Wind turbines dot Iowa's landscape, fueling a strong economy, multimillion-dollar industry

Wind turbines dot Iowa's landscape, fueling a strong economy, multimillion-dollar industry

Mike Wiser | Posted: Sunday, November 20, 2011 12:00 am

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Thirty years ago, Iowa’s wind industry was little more than a smattering of windmills dotting the rural landscape. Now, propelled by advances in technology, government support, the instability of the foreign energy market and the cachet of clean, renewable energy, it’s a multimillion-dollar behemoth.

It supports more than 3,000 Iowa jobs worth a combined payroll upwards of $70 million a year, according to association figures, and landowners make roughly $12.6 million a year in lease payments hosting turbines on their land. Currently, the state’s 2,800 wind turbines can pump out 4,375 megawatts at maximum capacity — second in the nation behind Texas’ 10,000 megawatts and ahead of California’s 3,100 — with a goal to increase that capacity to 20,000 megawatts by 2030.

“The story in Iowa can be held up as a great case study on how to do it right,” said Elizabeth Salerno, director of data and analysis for the AWEA. The association is the premier wind power advocacy group in the nation, having raised more than $32.8 million in 2009 and $22.5 million in 2008 to support its lobbying efforts, according to tax records.

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“Iowa started early and it has great wind resources,” she said. “It has available land, and farmers see having a turbine as just having a different type of crop. Fourth, Iowa has taken a lead in attracting companies that manufacture components.”

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Study: Wind energy keeps Iowa power costs down
By MIKE GLOVER
DES MOINES, Iowa

Wind energy accounts for up to 20 percent of Iowa's total electricity production, and is helping to keep the state's power costs among the lowest in the nation, a study released Wednesday showed.

Authors of the study said it debunks arguments that alternative energy and other measures to combat climate change are too expensive. The study was conducted by the Iowa Policy Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization based in Iowa City.

"Those people who tell us we can't do anything about global climate change because it will be too expensive are wrong, Iowa is proving it wrong," said David Osterberg, an Iowa Policy Project researcher and one of the authors of the study.

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Coal-fired plants produce about 75 percent of the state's electricity, and there is one nuclear plant in the state.

In examining electricity costs, the study found that Iowans paid about 6 cents per kilowatt hour in 1998. That climbed to 7 cents per kilowatt hour by 2008. Over the same time period, national average electricity costs went from 7 cents per kilowatt hour to nearly 10 cents.

"Amidst Iowa's massive expansion of wind power, our average electricity prices have remained below the national average and in fact have not increased as quickly as the national average price in the last four years," the study said.

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more at:

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9E7AK5G0.htm

link to study:http://www.iowapolicyproject.org/2010docs/100303-IPP-wind.pdf