Iowa Wind Energy Association
IWEA Projects Over 10,000 MW of Wind Energy
MidAmerican Energy's recent announcement of another 1,050 MW of wind projects and the Rock Island Clean Line High Voltage DC project to carry 4,000 MW of wind energy to east coast markets will result in over 10,000 MW of installed wind energy capacity. This should occur by 2017 which is well ahead of IWEA's goal of 10,000 MW by 2020!
IWEA
Capital Invested in Iowa Wind Projects
Over $9.8 billion dollars of capital has been invested in Iowa's wind farms and manufacturing facilities. Another $8 to $10 billion dollars will likely be invested in the next 3 to 5 years!
IWEA
Wind Farms Save Water
Generating wind energy requires virtually no water. The water consumption savings from from wind projects in Iowa total more than 3.2 billion gallons of water per year.
AWEA
Environmental Benefits of Wind Power
Iowa's wind power installations will avoid over 8.7million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. This is equivalent to taking 1,550,000 cars off the road!
AWEA
Wind Energy Benefits Dickinson County
Dickinson County in NW Iowa has 97 wind turbines. During the current tax collection cycle, $443,470 is being collected from these turbines to distribute to county, school districts, the area community college, hospital, etc. For the 1-2012 valuation, $10,862,000 additional valuation was gained from the turbines, with a similar amount to be added in the next 4 assessment years (2013-2016). When these turbines are at full (30%) assessment they will contribute $80,978,800 to the county tax base.
Wind Energy Benefits Pocahontas County
A total of 216 wind turbines have been constructed in Pocahontas County. In the most recent year, the turbines contributed $23.5 million in additional assessed value. When all turbines are at full taxable value, they will contribute an estimated total of $189 million to the total county tax base. Tax assessments for the wind turbines comprise 9% of the total county tax base currently and is likely to increase as the newer turbines reach full assessed valuation. The county has received over $3 million dollars in tax revenue from these wind turbines during the past 3 years. The wind turbines have increased tax receipts to the county and to some local school district budgets and some residents have actually seen their tax bill decrease as a reult of the expanded tax base! - IWEA
Iowan's Support Wind Energy
According to a recent poll of Iowan's attitudes regarding wind energy by Public Opinion Strategies, 85% of Iowan's view wind energy favorably, more so than any other generation source. Further, when asked "which type of energy source would you prefer for Iowa" 51% of Iowan's said wind energy, more than any other source as well!
Iowa's Total Wind Resource
75% of Iowa is suitable for wind energy development with an estimated total wind resource of 570,000 megawatts
Wind already provides over 25% of the energy used in Iowa. Wind, alone, can easily do that for the whole of the US. Combined with solar and geothermal, there is no reason that 100% of US energy on the grid cannot be wind, solar, and geothermal.