Decorah being considered for solar energy project

The solar energy project in Dubuque is under construction (Photo courtesy of Alliant Energy)

Alliant Energy officials gave a tour Thursday to Dubuque officials of a new solar energy project being constructed in that town.  The 15,600 solar panel project will become Iowa's largest utility-scale solar site when it is completed late this summer.

The project will be duplicated in other cities in Iowa.  Alliant Energy officials say Decorah is one of the locations being considered for a future project.

The site in Dubuque is expected to start generating energy in August. The 5-megawatt system can generate enough energy from the sun to power 727 typical Iowa homes annually.

"Solar energy is more affordable when it is built on a large scale," said Alliant Energy Iowa Operations Vice President Terry Kouba.  "This is our largest solar project yet, and like our other projects, we will apply lessons learned to the development of more solar sites across Iowa."