Alliant Energy Plans to Implement Smart Grid Technology in Corridor

Alliant to apply for federal stimulus grant funding

Alliant Energy subsidiary Interstate Power & Light Co. expects to file two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant applications with the U.S. Department of Energy's Smart Grid Investment Grant Program. 

The largest of the two grant applications requests $45 million for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in Iowa and Minnesota. The grant could help bring the first components of Smart Grid technology to Alliant Energy's Iowa and Minnesota customers a year earlier than originally planned and with less cost to customers.

AMI installation will allow customer usage data to be transmitted to the company's customer service and billing teams. Alliant Energy staff would no longer have to access customer property to read meters, reducing the need for estimated billings. Alliant says the AMI meters would also help utility crews respond to outages more effectively.

If grant funding is approved and Alliant Energy gains regulatory support, initial installation of AMI-enabled metering devices could begin in 2010. The installation of approximately 750,000 advanced electric and natural gas meters is expected to take three years.