Wind in Iowa

This last Wednesday I got to sit in on a nice presentation by Tom Wind (with input from others) in regard to the wind energy business in Iowa and the issues around electrical transmission. What an eye opener. Iowa continues to surge in wind production and will take back the #3 position from MN at the next accounting. In fact, the state will nearly double the wind generating capacity this year. Much more is queued up requesting space on the grid. As Tom stated, we are in a wonderful position of having wind generating capacity and the load requirements for using the electricity produced from that wind. Iowa is in a great position now and in a great position to grow the amount of electricity produced from wind energy into the future.

Yesterday five Midwest states announced a transmission planning initiative. This will be an effort to look at regional electric transmission investment and cost sharing. Governor Culver and Iowa is a part of this group. The effort sounds to me like a good initiative.