Renewable sources, mostly through wind energy, supplied 61.3% of the energy that MidAmerican Energy delivered to its Iowa customers last year, the Iowa Utilities Board verified in an order issued Thursday (5/7).
Last year, MidAmerican led the nation in wind project installations by adding more than a 1,000 megawatts of new capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association. AWEA further reports that MidAmerican's wind farms helped make wind energy the number one source of electricity generation in Iowa in 2019. Also last year, MidAmerican helped Iowa lead the nation in the percent of electricity generated by wind energy.
MidAmerican Energy's GreenAdvantage program, which the company provides to all Iowa customers at no additional cost, assures all customers across the state that a significant part of their electricity comes from renewable energy - 61.3% in 2019.
In addition to providing clean energy at no net cost to its customers, MidAmerican's wind energy provides significant economic benefits, particularly to rural Iowa. Through last year, MidAmerican has cumulatively invested $11.9 billion in wind energy.
MidAmerican's wind energy projects currently employ hundreds of people across the state, both in short-term construction and long-term operations and maintenance jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a wind turbine technician is the country's second fastest-growing job in the nation. Additionally, according to the agency, those technicians earned an annual mean wage of $57,510 in Iowa in 2019, exceeding the median wage for all occupations in Iowa last year, which was $47,330.
MidAmerican Energy Company, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, serves more than 791,000 electric customers in Iowa, Illinois and South Dakota, and 771,000 natural gas customers in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota. Information about MidAmerican Energy is available at MidAmericanEnergy.com and company social media channels.