Iowa ranks third in wind power
May 17--By Dave Dewitte, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Iowa added 160 megawatts of wind energy generation in 2004, surpassing Minnesota to rank third in wind energy production, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Total net wind energy production climbed 366 megawatts in 2004 to 6,740
megawatts. The amount of energy is equivalent to the requirements of 1.6 million
homes.
"Despite ongoing challenges facing the industry, such as the imminent
expiration of the federal production tax credit, the relevance of wind energy to
the nation's energy mix is increasingly being recognized by the nation's
economic and energy leaders," association Executive Director Randall
Swisher said in a statement.
By 2020, Swisher said, wind energy is expected to produce 6 percent of the
electricity in the U.S.
California was the top state for wind generation, with 2,096 megawatts of
capacity installed.
Second was Texas, with 1,293 megawatts.
Iowa's Storm Lake wind farm ranked fourth nationally in size, with 193
megawatts of capacity.
The largest wind farm is the Stateline wind farm on the Oregon-Washington
border, with 300 megawatts of capacity.
Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria, Calif., recently selected Cedar Rapids to
be the site of its first wind turbine manufacturing operation.
Clipper Windpower had previously developed two Iowa wind farms. The $50
million, 44-megawatt Flying Cloud project was sold to PPM Energy and generates
power for Interstate Power & Light Co. of Cedar Rapids. The $176 million,
160-megawatt Intrepid project was sold to MidAmerican Energy.
The turbines, sold in 2004, are expected to produce power for MidAmerican
customers.
The association ranked GE Energy as the top supplier of new wind turbines for
2004. GE produced 171 megawatts of capacity, down from 903 megawatts in 2003.
Mitsubishi surpassed Vestas for second place, manufacturing 120 megawatts of
capacity.
Vestas had the third-largest share of the U.S. market, manufacturing 97
megawatts of capacity.
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