MidAmerican Energy Company plans to build a new wind farm in Poweshiek County. This is the third site in Iowa selected for construction as part of the Wind XI project.
The North English wind farm will add up to 170 new wind turbines to the site, with a combined capacity of 340 MW of new wind generation.
MidAmerican Energy has begun construction activity on the North English wind farm, with completion scheduled for December 2018. The wind farm will share an operations and maintenance building in Montezuma with the Prairie wind farm, currently under construction in neighboring Mahaska County.
The North English wind farm is part of MidAmerican Energy’s Wind XI project and will add up to 170 new wind turbines with a combined capacity of 340 megawatts of new wind generation. MidAmerican Energy expects to pay up to approximately $137 million in county property taxes and up to approximately $114 million in landowner lease payments over the 40-year lifespan of the project.
“We are excited to continue development of our Wind XI project and come closer to achieving our 100% Renewable Vision,” said Bill Fehrman, president and CEO of MidAmerican Energy. “The benefits of Wind XI are very clear: clean energy produced right here in Iowa, for Iowa customers, using one of Iowa’s abundant renewable resources.”
The company is working with developers, county officials and landowners at potential wind farm sites in other Iowa counties for the balance of the Wind XI project. Construction on these projects will start in 2018 and 2019, and sites will be announced at a later date. Altogether, the $3.6 billion Wind XI project will consist of up to 1,000 wind turbines and 2,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity in Iowa when complete in December 2019.
The Wind XI project is expected to produce $1.2 billion in economic benefits for Iowa communities as a result of landowner easements and property tax payments over the next 40 years. Additionally, during construction thousands of jobs are expected to be added to Iowa’s economy and hundreds of new permanent jobs will be added when the expansion is complete.
MidAmerican Energy is not asking for an increase in customer rates or financial assistance from the state to pay for the Wind XI project, and the development will help provide stable rates for its customers without requesting an increase until at least 2029.
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