Research & Development at a Glance
In 2007, Alliant Energy invested $4.3 million in various research and development (R&D) programs. This amount included both discretionary research funds as well as funds collected from customer billings per mandates from state regulations.
Although a majority of our R&D dollars are spent on collaborative research programs overseen by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), we also provide funding to other important partners: Iowa State University, the University of Minnesota, the Iowa Energy Center, the University of Iowa, the Iowa Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, and the Energy Center of Wisconsin.
Our company's participation targets a diverse range of R&D areas related to improving environmental performance - in fact, these represent over 80 percent of the total 2007 investment. Environmentally-related R&D emphasis areas include:
- Climate Change — Advanced generation technologies for the design of low emission po wer plants, such as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle and Carbon Capture and Storage. In 2007, this research supported testing of a chilled ammonia carbon capture process. This pilot-scale technology demonstration project was conducted to determine the feasibility of separating and capturing 1 percent of the CO2 emissions released from a 617 MW coal-fired power plant boiler located in Wisconsin. The pilot-scale results will be applied to understand the potential level of CO2 capture feasible on a full-scale basis.
- Air Quality — Support for ongoing development of air quality modeling and health risk assessment tools. These evaluation tools are being applied to better inform regulatory efforts by EPA and state agencies in the implementation of scientifically sound air quality management plans that balance environmental protection with achievement of cost-effective compliance.
- Emissions Control Technology — Funding of research on advanced air pollution control technologies for SO2, NOX, particulate and mercury emissions. This research provides engineering evaluations of performance and cost assessments of technologies that control multiple pollutants in an integrated system. Funding also supports studies to help power plant operators optimize system design, maintenance practices, instrumentation and monitoring.
- Land and Water — A variety of environmental projects to reduce impacts to land and water including site remediation and fish protection.
- Energy Efficiency and Renewables — Research related to dynamic energ y management as well as broader initiatives to support technology development for energy efficiency and renewable resources.
