Wind energy keeps Iowa power costs down

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

The Iowa Policy Project report shows Iowa’s wind industry is generating nearly 3700 megawatts of power annually. ”We can’t say exactly where this generation is being consumed,” Galluzzo says. “But if it were all to be consumed in Iowa it would serve the equivalent of 75 percent of our homes with this capacity.”

According to Iowa Policy Project executive director David Osterberg, wind turbines in the state now generate nearly six times as much power as the state’s lone nuclear plant. “There’s a load of wind out there that can be gleaned,” Osterberg says, “and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface even at 20 percent.”


http://www.radioiowa.com/2010/03/03/up-to-20-percent-of-iowa-electricity-from-wind/