Massive wind harvesting project to go up in Iowa

MidAmerican Energy has announced that the State of Iowa's Utility Board has approved plans for installation of its 2 GW Wind XI project, the largest ever undertaken in the U.S.. The project will involve installing 1,000 wind turbines over a two-year period in various sites throughout Iowa to provide electricity to approximately 800,000 consumers.

Unique to the project is a promise made by Des Moines-based MidAmerican that the installation costs of the turbines will not affect consumer energy bills, nor will the state be asked to pay for them—instead, MidAmerican will be footing the $3.6 billion cost itself.

It is a utility company offering electricity and natural gas to customers in Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois and of course, Iowa. The company has set a goal of getting the state off coal completely and expects this new project to advance that goal—they project that once the project is fully operational, and other projects go forward as well, fully 85 percent of the electricity used in Iowa will come from wind powered turbines by 2020.

The project will take place over the next three years, though it is not clear just yet where the turbines will actually be installed. Once underway, it will be the largest economic project in the state's history—one that MidAmerican is promising will not only reduce carbon emissions by phasing out coal plants, but one that will protect consumers from rising electricity bills.

Read more at Tech Xplore

Image Credit: Adobe Stock

-jk-