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MidAmerican Wind Energy to Cover 100 Percent Iowa Consumer Use

adam wright
Katarina Sostaric
/
IPR
MidAmerican President/CEO Adam Wright speaks at a press conference in Des Moines Wednesday, May 30, 2018.

A proposed wind project in Iowa could make MidAmerican Energy the country’s first utility to generate renewable energy equal to 100 percent of customers’ annual usage. The company announced this goal two years ago.

On Wednesday, MidAmerican Energy President and CEO Adam Wright said last year, just over half of the energy produced by the company came from wind. 

“That’s going to continue to creep up,” Wright said. “By the time we get to 2019, 2020, we should be above 90 percent from wind, and the rest will be coming from the other resources that we have.”

The other sources are coal, natural gas and some nuclear energy, all of which will still be used on less windy days.

Wright said the new wind project, if approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, will be completed in late 2020 without a rate increase for customers.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state has been looking forward to this announcement.

“Thanks in large part to MidAmerican’s ongoing investment in providing renewable energy for our customers, you have launched Iowa to the top of the charts as well,” she said.

Reynolds said clean energy at low rates gives Iowa a competitive edge.

The project would be MidAmerican’s 12th wind energy project in Iowa. Wright said it would create 300 construction jobs and 28 permanent jobs. He said he can’t reveal the planned locations of the new wind farms because they’re not finalized.

Katarina Sostaric is IPR's State Government Reporter