Wind accounts for 35% of Iowa's in-state power generation
Iowa has broken US records by generating nearly 36% of its electricity from wind in the year to August 2016, and the Midwestern state is set to crack the 40% mark by 2020, Governor Terry Branstad says.
Iowa’s fleet of wind farms accounted for 35.8% of in-state power generation on a 12-month rolling average through August, “by far more than any other state”, Branstad said Thursday at an event hosted by the American Wind Energy Association.
The share of wind in Iowa’s power mix is growing rapidly: Wind accounted for 31.3% of in-state generation in 2015, AWEA figures show.
And with several huge wind developments underway in the state – including MidAmerican Energy’s 2GW Wind XI project and Alliant Energy’s 500MW Whispering Willows expansion – Iowa is “well on track” to blow past the 40% mark by the end of the decade, Brandstad says.
That would put the Hawkeye State – population 3.1 million – in the same league as global wind powerhouses like Denmark, which sourced 42% of its electricity from wind in 2015.
Despite its modest population, Iowa’s 6.4GW of installed wind capacity gives it the second highest tally among US states, trailing only Texas.
Branstad, a Republican, says Iowa’s wind boom has brought myriad economic benefits to the state, and is increasingly a draw for companies like Microsoft and Facebook, which are looking for low-cost renewables to power their big data centres.
“Companies cite our increasing supply of renewable energy in their decisions to relocate here,” said Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds. “This is a competitive economic advantage – and one of the biggest tools we have in our toolbox.”
Iowa’s wind market has attracted a number of manufacturers, with Siemens and TPI Composites both owning blade factories in the state.
MidAmerican’s $3.6bn multi-site Wind XI is the largest economic development project in state history.
Wind enjoys broad bipartisan political support in Iowa, Branstad says, adding that he has personally explained the virtues of wind power to Donald Trump, the notoriously anti-wind Republican presidential candidate.
“And Iowa’s leadership in renewable energy goes beyond wind," Branstad says. "We’re also seeing growth in solar and geothermal, and we’re a leader in biofuels – the number one [US] producer of ethanol.”
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