The Iowa Utilities Board approved the plans for MidAmerican Energy’s Wind XI project last Friday, Aug. 26. The project, which will consist of 1,000 wind turbines on multiple sites across the state, will generate more than $1.2 billion in landowner easement and property tax payments over the next 40 years and will create thousands of jobs during construction as well as new, permanent positions when expansion is complete. The company is still finalizing site selections, but they anticipate placing them into service over a three-year period, with the first coming online in 2017 and the last in 2019. Wind XI will generate up to 2,000 megawatts of wind energy and is the largest project MidAmerican Energy has undertaken. MidAmerican representatives say there will not be an increase in customer rates, nor will they be asking for assistance from the state of Iowa to pay for the project.
