Central Iowa Power Cooperative today announced plans for an $85 million investment to repower the natural gas-fired Summit Lake Generating Station in Creston. The project includes demolition of the 70-year-old steam plant, installation of efficient natural gas-fired reciprocating engines, construction of a new operations and dispatch center, and substation upgrades by late 2022. “This repowering project adds greater diversity to CIPCO’s portfolio and complements our planned buildout of additional wind and solar resources with dispatchable, quick-start natural gas capacity to run when the wind and sun aren’t producing electricity,” CIPCO CEO Bill Cherrier said in a release. The project is slated to begin around mid-2019, pending approval of a petition of waiver by CIPCO to the Iowa Utilities Board to install up to 60 megawatts of new gas-fired engines.