
We developed Clean Energy Blueprints to guide us in meeting customer demand for affordable, dependable clean energy. Our customers have asked us to keep renewable energy at the forefront, while balancing the need for affordability – and our Clean Energy Blueprints do just that. Specially tailored to each state we serve, our plans provide strategic, actionable steps which embrace new technologies designed to adapt and harden our systems. These advancements allow us to continue providing resilient and reliable energy as we transition to more affordable renewable energy options. Through these efforts, our generation portfolio is on track to include 50% renewable resources by 2025.
Our Wisconsin Clean Energy Blueprint includes plans to eliminate coal-fired generation by retiring our Edgewater and Columbia facilities by the end of 2024. Our plans also include a significant investment in solar energy located in and around our service area to replace the retired generation and transform our energy mix. Once our gigawatt of solar is operational, our investments will generate enough power to provide clean energy to over 283,000 homes.
Our Iowa Clean Energy Blueprint includes the addition of new state-of-the-art solar energy and battery storage developments. The Blueprint also outlines our plan to retire coal generation at our Lansing facility, and convert our coal-fired Burlington facility to natural gas generation. Additionally, we recently increased our wind generation in the state to 1,300 megawatts, which is enough to power more than 500,000 homes.
As we follow our Blueprints, we are also working to modernize our part of the Integrated grid for future generations of customers across Iowa and Wisconsin. We are steadfast in our commitment to enhancing our product portfolio. Our vision is that this smarter Connected Energy Network will provide customers the reliability and resiliency they continue to expect while increasing control, flexibility and choice. It includes a future with improved distribution infrastructure, advanced information/operation technology, expanded distributed energy resources and enhanced electrification and communications systems.
Our commitment to supporting the communities we serve extends to improving the natural environment for future generations. We’re committing to donate and help plant more than one million trees – one tree for each of our utility customers – over then next decade. By partnering with organizations and communities throughout our Iowa and Wisconsin service areas, we’re supporting public forest restoration and preservation, urban forestry projects and other tree planting efforts across communities and rural settings. In addition to providing shade, trees improve water quality and provide wildlife habitat. As they grow, these trees will also provide natural greenhouse gas reductions that align with our goal of net-zero CO2 emissions from the electricity we generate by 2050 – making the future brighter and greener for those who come next.
We are accelerating efforts to reach our goal to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the electricity we generate that will also significantly decrease our water footprint. In 2020, our CO2 reductions from fossil-fueled generation were 42% below 2005 levels. Our reliance on less fossil-fueled generation has also reduced the amount of water supply we need to produce electricity. Over this same period, the associated cumulative volume of water saved was over 300 billion gallons. To drive further progress, we have expanded our water reduction goal to cover all of our electric utility operations including supporting facility operations.