Rep. Steil & DOE Secretary Wright Announce Major Energy Investment in Beloit

"Affordable, reliable energy infrastructure for products like natural gas increases supply and lowers costs for Wisconsin families," said Steil. "This investment will unleash American energy to pass along nearly $1 billion in energy savings directly to Wisconsin families through lower energy bills. Thank you to Secretary Wright, and the Department of Energy, for helping lower costs for Wisconsin families."

• The Department of Energy (DOE) is providing a fixed-interest, long-term (30-year) loan of $5.1 billion to Alliant Energy for facilities in Wisconsin and Iowa, including its West Riverside Energy Center (WREC) in Beloit.
  • Changes made in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (H.R. 1) restructured and expanded an existing program, the Energy Infrastructure Refinancing Program, to actually to lower energy costs for American families.
  • Without the changes made in H.R. 1, this investment would not have been possible.
• The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created the Energy Infrastructure Refinancing (EIR) program in 2022.
  • IRA authorized up to $250 billion in loans to energy providers for renewable energy programs and emissions reductions.
  • The IRA did not allow for natural gas projects or other more affordable energy projects to receive funding.
• Rep. Steil supported H.R. 1, which restructured the Energy Infrastructure Refinancing program into the Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) program.
  • H.R. 1 expanded EDF's authority to support energy infrastructure, regardless of energy source.
  • DOE is providing a fixed-interest, long-term (30-year) loan of $5.1 billion to Alliant Energy for facilities in Wisconsin and Iowa, including its West Riverside Energy Center (WREC) in Beloit.
    • The loan will support LNG infrastructure and increase Alliant's LNG storage capacity, helping Wisconsin families save on energy costs.
    • WREC currently provides enough energy to power over 550,000 homes.
    • The DOE estimates this investment will save families more than $1 billionin reduced electricity costs, and provide enough energy to power nearly 2 million homes.
  • The EDF program requires that projects demonstrate they will pass savings directly on to local communities.
    • Without the changes made in H.R. 1, this investment would not have been possible.
    • This is because the previous EIR program did not allow for affordable energy sources like natural gas to qualify for loan funding.
  • An all-of-the-above energy approach helps deliver savings for Wisconsin families.