Iowa Utility Companies Move Toward 100% Renewable Energy

A major Iowa utility company will invest $3.6 billion in the largest renewable energy project in the state, propelling Iowa forward as one of the leaders in clean energy efforts.

The Iowa Utilities Board approved MidAmerican Energy’s large wind energy investment on Aug. 26, as the Des Moines-based company seeks to reach 100 percent renewable energy in the future, starting with the new Wind XI farm, according to GovTech.

“We are finalizing plans to begin construction of the 1,000 wind turbines, with completion expected by the end of 2019,” MidAmerican spokeswoman Ashton Hockman said in an email. “Wind XI will add up to 2,000 megawatts of wind generation in Iowa and is the largest wind project MidAmerican Energy has ever undertaken.”

Wind XI, which was first unveiled in April, is expected to expand through multiple sites in the state, though they have not yet finalized any locations. The company has not requested financial help from the state and said that customer rates will not go up during this process, as the entire project will be funded by federal production tax credits over the course of 10 years.

“The early approval helps ensure MidAmerican can take full advantage of the recently extended federal wind production tax credit — a policy we support,” said Iowa Environmental Council’s Energy Program Director Nathaniel Baer.

In 2015, Iowa ranked second among all states in net electricity generated from wind, with 31 percent of its total electricity coming from the renewable energy source — a higher percentage than any other state, notes the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Iowa still generates more than half of its energy from coal, though that number has dropped from 59 percent in 2014 to 53 percent in 2015, and will likely continue dropping as wind electricity production increases.

MidAmerican’s announcement comes less than two months after another Iowa company, Alliant Energy, revealed plans to invest $1 billion in a wind project slated to add 500 megawatts of renewable energy to the state’s infrastructure, reports GovTech. They have not yet received official approval from the Iowa Utilities Board.

Wind energy typically costs less for consumers than other electricity sources.

Sources: GovTech, U.S. Energy Information Administration / Photo credit: Unsplash/Pixabay