Some Town of Beloit and Town of Rock residents are frustrated with the construction of a new Alliant Energy plant on West B-R Townline Road.
The company held a public construction update meeting Wednesday night, where over 50 neighbors sought answers for loud noise and strong vibrations they’ve experienced in recent months.
Plant manager Paul Gregor said some of the issue was caused when the plant conducted steam blowing of its pipes just after Thanksgiving.
One family said they stayed at a hotel during that process because they couldn’t sleep because of the noise and their house shaking too much.
Project manager Bob Newell said they had to stop steam blowing before it was complete because of debris in the system caused by non-purified water mixed into their boilers.
Alliant plans on restarting the entire steam blowing process sometime at the end of February or beginning of March. Gregor said it will take roughly a week of uninterrupted blowing to finish the process, which they may split into separate segments.
Multiple residents said they’re considering moving because of the issues, and they can still hear constant humming and vibrating even when the plant isn’t steam blowing. They also expressed concerns over their property values.
Newell provided sound measurements that showed the West Riverside Energy Center construction is staying well within the Town of Beloit’s noise ordinances, and he said the power plant’s building has noise reduction panels built in the walls.
Newell said their noise studies found that the sound issue may be coming from the air separation plant owned by Messer North America Inc. across the street on Walters Road.
The Alliant plant was originally supposed to be complete by the end of 2019, but now they’re hoping to have it finished by April. That’s also when they plan to begin work on an accompanying solar panel site to the south.
