KEYFACT Energy
MidAmerican Energy Company this month set a new one-day wind generation record in Iowa for generating electricity that supplied its entire retail customers’ electric usage with renewable energy.
On April 10, company-owned and contracted wind farms generated 111,500 megawatt-hours of energy across the state. MidAmerican Energy’s previous one-day wind generation record, set in January, was 106,000 MWh.
Over the first three weeks in April, the wind farms generated 1,314 gigawatt-hours, supplying 88% of overall customer electric energy consumption during that time frame.
One gigawatt-hour of energy is enough to power approximately 90 homes over the course of a year. So in the first three weeks of April, MidAmerican Energy wind farms generated the amount of energy it takes to power more than 117,000 homes for a year.
“Hitting this record is a milestone for our customers and our company,” Spencer Moore, MidAmerican Energy Company vice president of generation, said. “It shows we’re well on our way to meeting our 100% renewable energy vision, which is to power our Iowa customers’ annual use with renewable sources.”
Last year, the Iowa Utilities Board verified that in 2017, MidAmerican Energy provided its customers with more than half of their electricity from renewable sources.
The company is on track to becoming the first investor-owned electric utility in the nation to generate renewable energy equal to 100% of its customers’ usage on an annual basis, after completing its newest planned 591-megawatt wind energy project by the end of next year. MidAmerican Energy expects to complete the $922-million plan, called Wind XII, at no net cost to its customers.