A key goal of economic development organizations is to improve the well-being of a community through efforts that entail job creation and retention. When an industrial company expands operations, it’s often after many, many conversations.
Similar to many industries, across the utility industry orders for certain equipment that took six months to fulfill in 2020 now take 24-80 months. With the high demand for critical equipment and ongoing supply chain challenges that include labor, raw materials and components, we expect to continue to see a shortage of some critical equipment for the foreseeable future.
According to David Watkins, Alliant Energy Director of Supply Chain Management, “Alliant Energy is taking significant actions to ensure we have an adequate supply of critical equipment to deliver the energy services our customers rely on. We are working with government entities and industry groups, optimizing our inventory and exploring alternative solutions to safely and reliably keep the lights on and the power flowing.”
Bringing your Alliant Energy partner into those conversations as early as possible is an important step, particularly as the utility industry, like many other industries, continues to experience supply chain issues.
Alliant Energy remains excited and dedicated to working with new and existing business customers and economic development partners on potential expansion opportunities. The sooner we are brought into the conversation the more helpful we can be to help make this a great and positive experience.