Recent Press Release

Record Setting Switchgrass Testing Comes to Successful End

Nearly 16,000 tons of switchgrass produce more than 19,600 megawatt-hours of electricity

OTTUMWA, Iowa - May 25, 2006 - It's quieter now inside the switchgrass processing facility next to the Ottumwa Generating Station (OGS). In fact, it hasn't been this quiet since February when a record setting test began. The facility is part of a project Alliant Energy - Interstate Power and Light Co. (IP&L), an Alliant Energy Company (NYSE: LNT) and the Chariton Valley Biomass Project have been working on for 15 years. The long-term test burn, which was completed on May 12, set records and ended the testing phase of the project. But the effort is far from over.

Over the last three months, more than 15,600 tons of locally-grown switchgrass have been de-baled, pulverized and sent into the boiler at OGS, which is owned by IP&L and MidAmerican Energy Company. The switchgrass has displaced some 12,000 tons of coal normally needed to provide electricity to southeast Iowa.

Over the nearly 1,700 hours the test burn took place, the switchgrass burned in the plant's boiler produced about 19,600 megawatt-hours or enough electricity to power nearly 1,900 average-sized homes for a full year. That's a world record for energy produced from switchgrass. In the process, carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by about 51,000 tons and, because switchgrass absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, the reductions are even greater. While OGS already burns low-sulfur coal, the sulfur content of switchgrass is so low that sulfur emissions were decreased by an additional 62 tons during the test burn.

“We've burned a lot and we've learned a lot,” explains Roger Morton, project engineer for Alliant Energy. “But the learning isn't over yet. Part of our post-long term test burn analysis will be to understand what equipment limitations were uncovered, what process changes were made, why the changes were made, and what we can do to make the process more efficient.“

“The end of the test burn is the start of the next phase,” explains Bill Belden, project manager for Chariton Valley Biomass Project. “The data and lessons learned during this burn need to be reviewed and organized into information about the feasibility and long-term opportunities of using switchgrass as an alternative and renewable fuel.” Belden says the computation work to come to final conclusions will likely cost $1.75 million to complete.

The U.S. Department of Energy assisted in funding test burns at OGS. “The funding from the federal government has been vital to the success of this program,” says Kim Zuhlke, vice president of new energy resources for Alliant Energy. “With the current issues surrounding the costs of fuels in America, the funding has taken us a step closer to finding switchgrass-powered opportunities that will positively impact not just electricity production, but other types of energy production, too.”

The Chariton Valley Biomass Project is working toward commercialization of the switchgrass process. To move forward with commercialization, the growing, production and processing system needs to be reviewed and studies must be done on the OGS boiler to see what, if any, impacts burning switchgrass has had on the plant's boiler. That work is already underway and the Chariton Valley Biomass Project hopes to complete the review by December.

About Alliant Energy

Alliant Energy is an energy-services provider with subsidiaries serving approximately 1 million electric and over 400,000 natural gas customers. Providing its customers in the Midwest with regulated electricity and natural gas service is the company's primary focus. Interstate Power and Light, the company's Iowa utility subsidiary, serves 535,000 electric and 238,000 natural gas customers. Alliant Energy, headquartered in Madison, Wis., is a Fortune 1000 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNT. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.alliantenergy.com.

About Chariton Valley Resource Conservation & Development, Inc.

Chariton Valley Resource Conservation & Development, Inc. (CVRC&D) is a non-profit corporation organized in 1969 to work with four southern Iowa counties. Their mission is to assist local people to work together to solve their own problems. CVRC&D works in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to help people protect and develop their economic, natural, and social resources in ways that improve their area's economy, environment, and quality of life. RC&D is based on the idea that local people know what their communities need and can create solutions that will really work. For more information on CVRC&D or the Chariton Valley Biomass Project, visit www.cvrcd.org.

Media Contact: Scott Drzycimski (319) 786-7500 or Nancy Kobus (608) 458-3187