Baldwin Brings Home $7.2M to Convert Portion of Coal-Fired Power Plant in Pacific, Wisconsin into Cutting-Edge Energy Storage

WISCONSIN – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) announced she helped secure $7.2 million for construction of a first-of-its-kind energy storage project at a soon-to-be-retired coal-fired power plant site in Pacific, Wisconsin. The groundbreaking project, funded through the Baldwin-backed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will develop a new way to store excess energy to be used at a later date, helping to lower costs for consumers, support clean, renewable energy generation, and make Wisconsin’s energy grid more resilient.  

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is not just transforming our nation’s roads and bridges, it’s also investing in Wisconsin’s broadband, water, and energy infrastructure to create a healthier, safer environment and helping lower costs for families,” said Senator Baldwin. “Replacing Wisconsin’s aging energy infrastructure makes our power grid more efficient and resilient, while also improving our air quality, cutting energy costs, and combatting the impacts of climate change like flooding and extreme weather events that are devastating communities across our state.”

The funding was awarded to Alliant Energy for their plans to construct a grid-tied compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) system at the Columbia Energy Center, a soon-to-be retired coal-fired power plant in Pacific, WI. This facility would be the first of its kind in the United States and seeks to demonstrate the capability of the technology to support renewable generation for the energy industry. The Columbia Energy Storage Project plans to store excess energy from the grid by converting CO2 gas into a compressed liquid form, which reduces the cost and complexity of storing energy.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstration (OCED) awarded the Columbia Energy Storage Project more than $7 million to conduct Phase 1 of the project, which is expected to last 16-22 months. During Phase 1, Alliant Energy and the project team will conduct foundational activities such as formalizing the project plan, signing partnership agreements, conducting interconnection studies, defining the permit plan, performing environmental planning, and conducting engineering and design work. 

In September 2023, DOE announced up to $325 million to accelerate the development of long-duration energy storage technologies, including the Columbia Energy Storage Project. This is the first award made for the project. Funding for projects under this program will be issued in phases commensurate with the work performed. More information on the project is available here.

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