DES MOINES – MidAmerican Energy, an Iowa energy company headquartered in Des Moines, has placed what is called the largest-ever order for on-shorenwind turbines, ordering hundreds of wind turbines from a German company.
Siemens has received an order from the U.S. energy company MidAmerican Energy for the supply of 448 wind turbines. With a total capacity of 1,050 megawatts (MW), this represents not only the largest order ever for onshore wind turbines for Siemens, but also the largest single order for onshore wind power awarded globally to date. The wind turbines, each with a rating of 2.3 megawatts and a rotor diameter of 108 meters, are to be installed in five different projects in Iowa. Siemens will also be responsible for service and maintenance of the wind turbines.
In November, MidAmerican Energy Company announced additional details about the largest wind expansion in Iowa’s history. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to develop up to 1,050 megawatts of additional wind generation in Iowa by the end of 2015. Construction activity is now underway at each of the five project sites, and MidAmerican Energy is releasing information about the developers, turbine supplier, contractors and project size by location.
MidAmerican Energy recently reached an agreement with Highland Wind Energy, LLC, an Invenergy Wind LLC company, for the acquisition of the approximate 500-megawatt Highland wind project site in O’Brien County. Agreements also were reached with EDF Renewable Energy for the acquisition of the approximate 250-megawatt Lundgren wind project site in Webster County, and with two RPM Access, LLC companies for the acquisitions of the approximate 138.6-megawatt Wellsburg wind project site in Grundy County and the approximate 117-megawatt Macksburg wind project site in Madison County. In addition, MidAmerican Energy’s existing Vienna wind farm, constructed in 2012, is being expanded by 44.6 megawatts in Marshall County (Vienna II wind project).
After the conclusion of a competitive tender process, MidAmerican Energy has selected Siemens Energy as the turbine supplier for all project sites. All of the blades for the expansion will be manufactured at Siemens’ Fort Madison, Iowa, facility, while the nacelles will be manufactured at Siemens’ Hutchinson, Kan., facility. Siemens will provide turbines utilizing technology from its 2.3-megawatt, G2 platform for all five projects. The contract also includes a service, maintenance and warranty agreement.
The Highland, Macksburg and Wellsburg wind projects will be constructed by Mortenson Construction, which is based in Minnesota, while the Lundgren and Vienna II wind projects will be constructed by Wanzek Construction, Inc., which is based in North Dakota.
Once complete, the new wind projects, which will consist of 448 wind turbines, will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 317,000 average Iowa households.
“We look forward to continuing positive relationships with state and county officials as well as landowners and other local residents during the construction and operation of the new wind farms,” said Bill Fehrman, president and CEO, MidAmerican Energy. “Not only will the projects bring jobs and other economic development to the state, they will enhance MidAmerican Energy’s renewable energy portfolio – making additional affordable, environmentally responsible energy to benefit our customers.”
The wind expansion will provide more than $3 million in landowner payments each year and more than $360 million in additional property tax revenues over the next 30 years. The expansion will be constructed at no net cost to the company’s customers and will help stabilize electric rates over the long term. Approximately 1,000 construction jobs will be added to Iowa’s economy during the two-year construction period, and approximately 40 new permanent jobs will be added when the expansion is complete.
On May 8, MidAmerican Energy announced plans to expand its wind generation fleet in Iowa. On Aug. 9, the Iowa Utilities Board approved an agreement between MidAmerican Energy and the Office of Consumer Advocate granting state approval to proceed with the wind generation expansion.
The company began building wind projects in 2004 and, to date, has installed 1,267 wind turbines in Iowa, making MidAmerican Energy the No. 1 rate-regulated utility owner of wind generation in the U.S. When the projects are complete by year-end 2015, approximately 39 percent of MidAmerican Energy’s generation portfolio will come from wind resources associated with its 1,715 wind turbines, further strengthening the company’s top ranking.
MidAmerican Energy Company, Iowa’s largest energy company, provides electric service to 734,000 customers and natural gas service to 714,000 customers in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota. It is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa.
If it wasn’t for the tax payer subsidizing the windmills no company would have invested in them because they are not profitable on there own
Oil is subsidized even more. Stay off FOX news, it’s just makes you talk stupid.
Wind energy is nor anywhere near as good as you think. It is killing birds by the millions, pollutes the air with all the gravel road it requires, take up good farm land, requires a ton of maintenance and sucks up tax payers hard earned dollars. The only one coming out on this are the manufacturers (and they would be out of business without tax money) the power company’s who keep on charging the same or higher rates and of course the farmers who are drawing all kinds of farm aid from us and then make a fortune for doing nothing by letting them use their property. All paid for by the American Taxpayer. Wake up dummy’s.
Pollutes the air with gravel roads… are you serious. How does a access road that gets used maybe 12-15 times a year pollute anything? I have built wind towers, and know a thing or two about them. The maintenance isn’t much more than you would expect from any moving piece of machinery. They require lubricating… and replacement of worn out parts. A typical wind farm requires about 10-15 people to maintain them. That’s not a lot of maintenance. Also standing around wind towers I have yet to find a single dead bird. I think you exaggerate a bit much.
Knomore… Ive heard that the lifespan of these towers is about 20 years. Someone told me thats basically because of the lifespan of the cement footing due to vibration. Is this true? and when these towers run their course, who is responsible for removing those massive footings? thanks in advance.
No YOU wake up dummy. If you don’t know anything about a subject just shut up. Every story you have to add your biased BS and it’s not even worth 2 cents.
That’s for LVS of course.
@Ignorant-You would be laughable if people like you were not costing the rest of us so much money. It is a good thing you always post under goofy names so people don’t know what a idiot you really are. Do you really think the machines that build the roads, haul the cement and put up the windmills run on air and don’t stir up pollution. Do you really think the steel used just happened to be there and wasn’t made by a steel mill using coke for fuel, do you really think the electrical generator used in these things doesn’t put out radiation? What do you use when the wind stops you friggin idiot. People like you should be barred from ever giving a opinion ever. You should be locked up before you do any more damage.
Looks like people are finally growing their brains. Wind energy works, is clean, and endless. It won’t help us much though, we’ll still be paying the power company for it, because everyone is socialized to the point of no return.
They are not “growing brains”. It is profitable to do this so they are. It’s how a company continues to be a company.
Took them long enough, and it was only due to efforts of environmentalists. Don’t ever forget that. Companies wouldn’t give a damn and would still be dumping toxic sludge into rivers if they could get away with it…oh wait…they still are. Fish kill anyone?
Environmentalists my ass. This is an accounting move to please the shareholders. If tax incentives were not in place, you would have clear horizons as far as the eye could see. Don’t break your own arm patting yourself on the back AR.
Clear horizons from all the smokestacks that would be were it not for the work of environmentalists? Clear horizons my ass. Wind energy, solar and geothermal are the waves of the future. Coal, gas, oil, nuclear are the dinosaurs of the past.
What Anonymous says is true. When they lost their subsidy the whole damn industry went into a tailspin. Without us to fund them they would be gone in six months. Now that Obama is turning his back on the industry I expect it to fail after this project. If it can’t stand on its own it should just go away. Just like Peter did.
So let the record stand: LVS wants the entire wind energy industry to disappear. Btw Larry, in case you’ve forgotten, the coal and oil industries are heavily subsidized.
Nice try at changing the subject Peter. This article is about windmills and not oil. Different subjects altogether. And, just to set the record straight, I don’t agree with subsidising oil millionairs either. You promised you wre leaving but this is not the first time you have gone back on your word. Hard to give any creditability to someone who says one thing and then does another.