Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) said it delivered second-quarter 2026 GAAP earnings of $0.65 per share and reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance, with management saying results are trending in the upper half of the company’s range despite milder weather during the first half of the year.
President and Chief Executive Officer Lisa Barton said the utility continues to advance a strategy centered on customer growth, regulatory support, resource planning and execution. The company expects demand to rise 60% by 2031 through five executed electric service agreements with large-load customers, primarily data-center developments.
Data-center projects advance
Alliant said three large-load projects are already under construction under commission-approved contracts. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Google has energized transmission service and is expected to ramp demand according to its contracted schedule. QTS is building a seven-building data-center campus in Cedar Rapids, where initial energization of 300 megawatts is anticipated later this year.
In Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Meta has entered vertical construction on its data-center facilities and associated infrastructure. Alliant also recently received approval in Wisconsin for an individual customer rate agreement supporting Meta’s project.
The company said QTS remains active on a second Iowa project in Clinton, for which Alliant expects to file an individual customer rate application later this year. The proposed project would represent 900 megawatts of load. Alliant also previously announced a 370-megawatt Iowa data-center agreement and said its future-load pipeline represents between 2 gigawatts and 4 gigawatts of potential demand.
Barton said the company’s approach is designed to require new large-load customers to pay their own cost of service, while enabling existing customers to benefit from higher system utilization and economic development. She cited a Brattle Group study that found large electricity users can improve affordability for existing customers when structured appropriately.
During the quarter, Alliant amended its Cedar Rapids agreement with QTS to allow for an accelerated load ramp using firm and non-firm transmission service. Chief Financial Officer Robert Durian said the change is not expected to materially alter the company’s capital-expenditure plan, which is already aligned with the planned ramp, but should result in higher revenue in 2027 and 2028.
Durian said QTS currently has more than 40 megawatts of load in service. He also said the data-center construction activity in Cedar Rapids is producing broader economic effects, noting that Google and QTS projects together have more than 10,000 workers in a city with a population of roughly 150,000.
Sales growth offsets weather pressure
Durian said year-over-year changes in ongoing earnings were driven by higher revenue requirements from capital investments at the company’s Iowa and Wisconsin utilities, increased equity earnings from corporate venture fund investments, and higher temperature-normalized retail electric and gas sales.
Those factors were partly offset by increased operations and maintenance costs, milder temperatures, the timing of income-tax expense, and higher financing and depreciation costs. Milder weather reduced second-quarter electric and gas margins by approximately $0.03 per share, compared with a $0.02-per-share benefit in the prior-year period.
Excluding weather, second-quarter electric sales rose about 3% from a year earlier, reflecting growth among Wisconsin commercial and industrial customers, particularly food-processing and manufacturing businesses. The company also said it is beginning to see demand from the initial phase of Iowa data-center load ramping.
Management said it increased its 2026 sales-growth expectation to 2% to 3%, from 1% previously. Durian attributed the improvement to both faster-than-expected data-center demand and growth among the company’s existing customer base. He said higher operations and maintenance spending in the first half largely reflected timing factors, including generation outages, and investments in reliability and customer service.
Generation and financing plans progress
Alliant reported several project and regulatory advances during the quarter. In Iowa, it filed generation certificates for the 720-megawatt Morgan Valley and 1.2-gigawatt River Hawk simple-cycle natural-gas projects, as well as a certificate for an approximately 125-megawatt energy-storage project.
The company began construction on the 720-megawatt Bobcat Energy Center in Marshalltown, Iowa, and the 95-megawatt Rice project in Burlington, Iowa. In Wisconsin, Alliant received approval to expand the Bent Tree Wind Farm by approximately 150 megawatts and has moved the project into construction.
Alliant also placed its final two generation-enhancement projects, located at Neenah and Sheboygan, into service. The projects add 260 megawatts of near-term capacity from existing assets, according to Durian.
The company said it has received approximately $50 million in Department of Energy grants for its Columbia Energy Center and Energy Dome projects.
For financing, Alliant plans up to $800 million of long-term debt issuances for the remainder of 2026, including up to $300 million at Wisconsin Power and Light and up to $500 million at Interstate Power and Light. Of approximately $2.4 billion in announced common-equity needs through 2029, the company said it has raised about $1.8 billion through forward equity agreements, leaving approximately $500 million to raise through 2029, excluding its share-direct plan.
Long-term outlook and policy discussion
Alliant maintained its expectation for compound annual earnings growth of more than 7% from 2027 through 2029. Management said it plans to update its multiyear capital-expenditure plan and provide greater detail on its longer-term earnings outlook during its third-quarter call.
During the question-and-answer session, Barton said local data-center ordinances and moratorium discussions in Iowa and Wisconsin are not affecting the company’s current projects or pipeline. She said a Linn County, Iowa, moratorium applies to unincorporated areas and does not affect Cedar Rapids developments.
Alliant expects to file a broader Wisconsin large-load tariff later this year following approval of the Meta rate agreement. Barton said the company’s proposed tariff would be aligned with an approach used by Xcel Energy and that Alliant’s large-load counterparties have been high quality. She added that the company does not see the evolving Wisconsin policy discussion adversely affecting its growth trajectory.
The company also reiterated its commitment to avoid Iowa retail-electric rate reviews through 2029, saying additional large-load agreements could potentially extend that period.
About Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT)
Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: LNT) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, that provides regulated electric and natural gas utility services in the American Midwest. The company serves customers primarily in Wisconsin and Iowa through its regulated utility subsidiaries and operates as an integrated provider responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Alliant Energy’s core activities include operating and maintaining electric generation assets, managing the regional transmission and distribution network, and delivering natural gas service to its franchise territories.
