In the short run MidAmerican's surplus of energy is sold to other utilities. However, its new wind capacity will be available if MidAmerican and its partner, AEP of Columbus, Ohio, are able to build a 765-kilovolt transmission line that would connect wind energy in Iowa and the Upper Midwest with larger markets east of the Mississippi River.
In the short run MidAmerican's surplus of energy is sold to other utilities. However, its new wind capacity will be available if MidAmerican and its partner, AEP of Columbus, Ohio, are able to build a 765-kilovolt transmission line that would connect wind energy in Iowa and the Upper Midwest with larger markets east of the Mississippi River.
MidAmerican Energy of Des Moines gave the wind industry a much-needed kick Tuesday when it announced a 258-turbine, 597-megawatt expansion to be built next year in Adair, Adams, Calhoun and Cass counties.
The new project will provide electricity to about 190,000 retail electric customers in Iowa by 2012 and expand MidAmerican's nation-leading capacity of wind energy among investor-owned utilities from its current 1,280 megawatts to 1,877 megawatts. (A megawatt can power between 250 and 500 homes.)
The project would also expand Iowa's wind generating capacity from 3,600 megawatts to more than 4,200 megawatts, second in the United States behind Texas. Because of Iowa's smaller population, Iowa ranks first in the nation in per-capita …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]MidAmerican Energy of Des Moines gave the wind industry a much-needed kick Tuesday when it announced a 258-turbine, 597-megawatt expansion to be built next year in Adair, Adams, Calhoun and Cass counties.
The new project will provide electricity to about 190,000 retail electric customers in Iowa by 2012 and expand MidAmerican's nation-leading capacity of wind energy among investor-owned utilities from its current 1,280 megawatts to 1,877 megawatts. (A megawatt can power between 250 and 500 homes.)
The project would also expand Iowa's wind generating capacity from 3,600 megawatts to more than 4,200 megawatts, second in the United States behind Texas. Because of Iowa's smaller population, Iowa ranks first in the nation in per-capita wind generation.
Groundbreaking for the first turbines is expected in the spring, MidAmerican President William Fehrman said.
The turbines will come from Siemens plants in Fort Madison and Hutchinson, Kan. The state gave Siemens a $1 million forgivable loan for a $44 million expansion of its next-generation wind turbine blade facility in Fort Madison, which employs about 600 people.
MidAmerican also is buying a 52-turbine wind project near Laurel, south of Marshalltown, from RPM Access of West Des Moines.
Because MidAmerican operates under an agreement with state regulators to freeze rates through the end of 2013, the new wind project will not cause a rate increase for MidAmerican's 770,000 Iowa electricity customers.
"We'll finish this project by the end of next year," Fehrman said. "And by the time we would first be able to go for a rate increase in 2014, the new wind project would have two years of operation and income generation behind it."
MidAmerican serves 770,000 customers in Iowa, including Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Iowa City, Sioux City and Waterloo.
Existing production tax credit to be used
The project is the first announced after Congress renewed wind energy tax credits in its recent lame-duck session. But Fehrman said those newly extended investment credits will not be used for the Iowa project.
Instead, he said, MidAmerican will use an existing production tax credit that allows deductions of up to 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour over a 10-year period. That deduction won't be up for extension until 2012.
Like other wind energy, the new turbines will be used for what utilities call "peaking" generation - supplementing the regular baseload electricity provided by coal-fired generators that run around the clock. That's why turbines don't always turn, even in windy conditions.
Expansion of wind industry slowed last year because of the uncertainty over congressional extension of the tax deductions, as well as competition from larger supplies of lower-priced natural gas.
The new MidAmerican project by itself would be larger than the 395 megawatts of wind-powered electric generating capacity added nationally in the third quarter of 2010, the lowest quarter since 2007.
For all of 2010, 1,634 megawatts of wind power were installed nationally, down 72 percent versus 2009 and the lowest level since 2006.
The Iowa Utilities Board approved a 1,000-megawatt expansion of MidAmerican's wind capacity in the state last year. NextEra Energy of Florida, which has 650 megawatts of capacity in central and north-central Iowa, opposed the project on competitive grounds.
NextEra lost an appeal of the state board's decision in Iowa state court. The case has been advanced to the Iowa Supreme Court.
NextEra officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Capacity not needed now, but can be sold
Fehrman noted that after the expansion is in place, MidAmerican will provide 26 percent of its generation from renewable energy sources.
"We have established an energy strategy that focuses on environmental responsibility, the reliability and diversity of our energy supply, and price stability over the long term," he said.
MidAmerican was forthright in telling the Iowa Utilities Board that it doesn't have an immediate need for more wind capacity for its customers in Iowa, but the new capacity would be available for future use.
In the short run MidAmerican's surplus of energy is sold to other utilities. However, its new wind capacity will be available if MidAmerican and its partner, AEP of Columbus, Ohio, are able to build a 765-kilovolt transmission line that would connect wind energy in Iowa and the Upper Midwest with larger markets east of the Mississippi River.
Midwestern wind interests got a boost earlier this month when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a plan that would spread the costs for new multistate transmission for wind - estimated to be as high as $25 billion to $30 billion - among all users and not just the individual generators.