The days are numbered for the iconic twin stacks of Sheboygan’s Edgewater Generating Station, but a new role in the energy picture will be established at the property. On Wednesday, Alliant Energy announced plans to build the Edgewater Battery Project that will store enough energy to power over 100,000 homes.
Plans to retire the current power plant have been in place for some time, with the full closure extended from its initial 2023 target to 2025 to help bridge the transition from coal to renewable sources. Pending approval, the Battery Project should begin construction next year with completion by June of ‘25.
A spokesperson for Alliant Energy, Tony Palese, told WHBL news that after taking local feedback and priorities into consideration, the new facility will be built on about 7 acres of Alliant-owned land bounded by Lakeshore Drive to the east, Washington Avenue to the North, South 9th Street to the west, and County Road EE to the south and west. The remainder of the 265-acre campus occupied by the power plant is being evaluated for future use that may include repurposing infrastructure, new residential housing, public open spaces and lakefront development. There may also be use for future energy generation and storage as Alliant advances its “Clean Energy Vision” goals.
The retirement of Unit 5 of the current generating station will mean the end of Utility Aid Payments for the City of Sheboygan. The shutdown of units 3 and 4 in 2020 has already resulted in a reduction of around $600,000. Palese told WHBL that, unlike traditional energy generation facilities like coal, gas and even wind, battery storage systems are not currently included in Wisconsin law when it comes to shared revenue payments for counties, towns and municipalities. He said that while there’s some ambiguity with how energy storage facilities will be treated under the state’s utility aid program, there may be other financial benefits to the community associated with sales tax revenue and economic activity associated with the project’s construction and operation. He also said that once the Edgewater Generating facility is decommissioned, the shared revenue payments will be phased out over a period of time and the property will go on the local property tax rolls.
As for the practicality of solar generation in the often cloudy and bitter cold of Wisconsin’s climate, Palese said that Alliant has designed their solar generating systems with northern climates in mind. and added that the battery system – which consists of sealed lithium iron phosphate battery cells (LFPs) – will be capable of operating at temperatures between -22F and 133F. As for safety, he said the batteries will be monitored with on-site sensors and off-site monitoring so operators can respond quickly to any anomalies, and that LFP batteries are made without such toxic heavy metals as mercury, cadmium or lead, are more resistant to degradation, easier to recycle and have a longer life cycle than other metal oxide lithium-ion cells.
The Edgewater Battery Project will have a capacity of 99 megawatts, or 396 Megawatt-hours.
Alliant’s Portage Battery Facility is Pictured Here. The Edgewater Battery Project will be Similar
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