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National Trade Group Applauds Decision, Sees Multiple Benefits The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today praised MidAmerican Energy, Iowa's largest utility, for its announcement to build a 310-megawatt (MW) wind facility in the state. The project would become the world's largest land-based wind plant, if completed before a proposed expansion of the 300-MW Stateline facility currently in operation in the Pacific Northwest. "We applaud MidAmerican's record-breaking announcement and the decisive step it is taking to develop Iowa's vast wind power potential," said AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher. “Consumers, farmers, the environment, and the economy will all benefit from growing investment in wind power as a part of the state's electricity mix." The new wind farm will consist of 180 to 200 turbines, with a rated generating capacity of 1.5 to 1.65 MW each. Each turbine is about 400 feet tall, and generates enough electricity to power 400 to 500 average American households. The location of the project has not yet been decided. The wind farm is part of a plan to add a total of 1,640 MW to MidAmerican's generation capability including a 540-MW natural gas plant and a 790-MW coal plant, and freeze electricity rates until 2010. To generate the same amount of electricity as the wind plant using coal would require a train of coal cars 34 miles long, each year. Iowa has a vast wind energy potential -- nine times larger than that of California, the state with the most wind power installed to date (1,700 MW), and five times that of Germany, the world leader in installed wind power capacity (Germany now has 12,000 MW of wind power generation, and the country's wind industry employs 45,000 people). Currently, Iowa hosts 423 MW of wind power generating capacity, the third largest amount of installed capacity in the U.S. after California and Texas. Iowa gets 85% of its power from coal, 9% from nuclear, and the rest from other sources. The cost of generating electricity from the wind has decreased to a level where, in states with a large potential like Iowa, it is in a competitive range with power from other new sources. That cost is also stable throughout the life of the project. The wind power in MidAmerican's mix should therefore help the utility keep its electricity rates down as pledged. The total installed capacity of wind energy in the United States at the end of 2002 was more than 4,600 MW, or enough to serve more than 1.2 million households. AWEA estimates that wind energy can provide 6% of the nation’s electricity by 2020. ### AWEA, formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry. The association’s membership includes turbine manufacturers, wind project developers, utilities, academicians, and interested individuals. More information on wind energy is available at the AWEA web site: www.awea.org |
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2002 by the American Wind Energy Association. |
