Description: Renewable energy is a topic of national interest. Iowa has a lot of wind and is a prominent user of this energy to provide electricity. MidAmerican Energy is among the leaders in this market.

How important is wind power to MidAmerican?

Our fleet of wind farms represent an investment of nearly $14.4 billion in clean, renewable energy since 2004. MidAmerican owns 5.9% of all the wind capacity in the country. We are proud to help make Iowa the national leader in wind energy generation as a percentage of total statewide electricity generation, according to the American Wind Energy Association. 

How fast can a wind turbine spin?

At its tip, a wind turbine blade can spin as fast as 200 miles per hour! To prevent damage from severe weather, our wind turbines automatically shut down and stop spinning when winds are strong enough to cause the blades to spin faster than they can safely manage.

How big are wind turbines?

The first wind turbines in our fleet were 71m (approx. 233 feet) tall. The tallest model of wind turbine in our fleet is nearly 150m (nearly 600 feet) tall. That’s almost twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty! Taller towers can support longer turbine blades, which generate more electricity for longer periods of time. This helps us provide Iowa energy users with clean, safe, renewable energy faster. We’ve been able to upgrade many of our older turbines with new parts and technologies in a process called repowering.

Speaker: Camden Ohrt, Northeast Iowa Wind Site Manager

Cam is an Iowa native and a 2008 graduate of Waterloo West High. He attended the University of Iowa where he majored in Environmental Sciences and completed the Sustainability Certificate program. Prior to his current position he worked as an Electrical Distribution Planner, Solar Consultant, and spent a few years out west in the industrial emissions monitoring world. He is married to a Cedar Falls native and has two boys and a girl all under the age of 6. His is a big outdoors family and do their best to be outside as much as possible.