Public hearing set as Alliant Energy pivots Cedar Rapids plant to natural gas

Alliant Energy is moving forward with plans to cease coal burning at its Prairie Creek Generating Station in Cedar Rapids this week as it prepares to makes the switch to power generation through natural gas.

As part of that process, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Air Quality Bureau is gathering public comments and will host a public hearing on a proposed new natural gas generation plant on Alliant Energy property in southwest Cedar Rapids.

Alliant, which owns the Prairie Creek Generating Station, 3300 C St. SW, announced in 2022 that by the end of 2025, it would stop burning coal at Prairie Creek to generate electricity.

The company is switching to natural gas-fired electricity generation to continue work toward its goal of decreasing coal use across the state.

In June, Alliant received permission from the Iowa Utilities Commission to build a new power plant — called the Cedar River Generating Station — within the boundary of the Prairie Creek Generating Station.

The Cedar River station will include five combustion engines, called Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines, or “RICE” units that run on natural gas.

RICE units allow power plants to ramp up energy production quickly as energy demands fluctuate. The units can also be used with wind and solar energies.

With that construction scheduled to start in 2026, six units at the Prairie Creek Generating Station will be either taken out of use or converted, said Alliant Energy spokesperson Taylor Adams.

Two of the units will be fully retired from burning coal. A third unit will be converted to run on natural gas early next year. Adams said Unit 4 will continue to run on natural gas, and two remaining units — which have produced steam, a product of coal burning that can be sold to industrial customers — will be decommissioned.

“With plans to cease burning coal at Prairie Creek Generating Station the end of 2025, the development of Cedar River Generating Station underscores our commitment to a balanced energy approach,” Adams said. “This project will help meet customer demand while providing cost-effective energy and supporting our investments in renewables to ensure reliability and security.”

Alliant is aiming to have the Cedar River Generating Station fully operational by mid-2027.

The public comment period, which opens today, and the public hearing next month are required before the DNR can issue a construction permit to build new or modify existing sources of air pollution.

According to the DNR, the changes associated with the Alliant project would produce increased emissions of “particulate matter, nitrogen dioxides, volatile organic compounds, and greenhouse gas emissions”.

The public comment period opens Tuesday and runs through Jan. 28. A public hearing will be held via Zoom on Jan. 28.

The Iowa DNR will hold a Zoom meeting on Jan. 28 as well to receive oral comments on the project.

A shifting portfolio

This comes as Alliant has shifted other parts of its energy portfolio away from burning coal, to natural gas.

In October 2020, the company announced it would be retiring its coal plant in Lansing and would be adding up to 400 megawatts of solar energy by 2023.

This mirrors energy trends across the country.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the United States produced about 501.4 million tons of coal in 2021 and 373.2 million tons in 2024, marking a 25 percent decrease.

To support Alliant’s Prairie Creek and Cedar River generating stations project, MidAmerican is seeking permission from the Iowa Utilities Commission to add 13 miles to one of its underground pipelines to pump natural gas to the plant once coal operations end.

If its application is approved, MidAmerican would build about seven miles of the pipeline further north into Johnson County and an additional 5.8 miles south into Washington County.

MidAmerican has previously said that it hopes to start construction in early 2026.

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com