Prairie Creek Generating Station to initiate start-up

Alliant Energy to begin partial operation after flood damage closed facility

Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE: LNT), will soon be restarting Boiler 1 at Prairie Creek Generating Station after record floods damaged and shutdown the plant this past summer. Work will continue to restore the plant to full operation. The current cost estimate to bring Prairie Creek back online is $152 million.

Prairie Creek provides 238 MW of electricity when fully operational and supplies 500,000 lb/hr of export steam as a by-product. Boiler 1 is set to begin producing export steam this week. The start-up of Boiler 2 (also steam) is planned for next week. Unit 1 (16 MW), which generates electricity, is expected to start-up in late February.

Prairie Creek Generating Station was evacuated on Thursday June 12, 2008 one day before the Cedar River crested at historic levels. The post-flood site entry was performed on June 15 and the site safety assessment was completed on June 17. These inspections began the long road back to full operation, and the realization that the extent of damage was substantial.

”I am proud of our employees and the local contractors who committed the past seven months to the ongoing restoration of this facility.” said Tom Aller, President – IPL. “Damage to the Prairie Creek plant was extensive and this first step of bringing Boiler 1 back into operation is an important milestone.”

The June 2008 floods damaged all electrical components facility-wide including control systems, wiring, switchgear, transformers, generators and motors. Temporary natural gas-fired package boilers were installed shortly after flood waters receded to provide steam to the plant’s two large industrial customers while the rebuild was in process. The plant is expected to be fully operational by summer of 2009.