MADISON, WI — Clean Wisconsin strongly supports Alliant Energy’s plan to retire the Edgewater Unit 5 coal plants in Sheboygan by the end of 2022, which the utility announced Friday morning.

“We’re pleased to see Alliant Energy making future-focused decisions to their energy mix,” said Scott Blankman, Energy and Air Program Director for Clean Wisconsin. “Cheap, clean energy such as wind and solar is continuing to make coal plants like Edgewater 5 simply uneconomical to operate. When you look at the economics, the move to shutter this plant was inevitable.

“Each day that renewable energy prices drop is another day customers are faced with added costs to support electricity generated by coal,” Blankman added. “We hope today’s announcement motivates other utilities to consider whether operating uneconomic coal plants is a good idea for their customers. We encourage them to accelerate the retirement of their remaining coal plants and investment in clean energy.”