MidAmerican Renewable Energy Project Won’t Include Charles City Wind Farm
MidAmerican Energy has filed plans with the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) for a $3.9 billion renewable energy project, but it appears it won’t involve their Charles City wind farm.
The goal is to hit net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and company spokesman Geoff Greenwood says, “It includes wind projects, solar by 2024 — but we’d also like to study some new technologies for clean energy, including carbon capture, energy storage, and modular nuclear.”
They are calling the project Wind PRIME and Greenwood says they would add more than 2,000 megawatts of wind generation and 50 megawatts of solar. The location of each has not yet been decided, but Greenwood says it’s unlikely it will impact the Charles City wind farm, adding they are not currently considering an expansion of their 16-acre site and its 50 wind turbines.
The wind and solar projects are the major part of the plan, while Greenwood says they want to explore other things like carbon capture, to help reduce emissions for coal-fired energy plants. He says the goal is to retire their existing coal generating plants no later than 2049.
The proposal must go through the IUB process to get the plan approved, which will include public hearings and comments on the plan.
Greenwood says MidAmerican’s Charles City wind farm can supply up to 75 megawatts (MW) of power an hour to the grid. In 2020, the turbines produced almost 250,000 MWh of renewable energy.
