MidAmerican brings BOS up to speed on energy projects

MidAmerican Energy Company representatives gave a report to the Adair County supervisors, during their Wednesday, Feb. 19 meeting, about two projects they are looking at doing within Adair County.

One of these projects would install a tower in northeastern part of Adair County that will act as a receiver. When aircraft are in the area, it will tell lights on top of wind turbines in the Arbor Hill Wind Farm to activate. When there is no aircraft in the area the lights on the turbines will not blink. The company says this is aimed at being a “good neighbor” and also saves energy. Another wind farm in western Adair County already uses this technology.

The other project will mean the development of an Orient Energy Center, which adds two simple-cycle natural gas-fired combustion turbines on land already owned by MidAmerican at the corner of Adair-Union and Orange Avenues south of Orient. These turbines will run approximately 10% of the time — when extra generation is needed — and would generate 465 megawatts of power.

The facility will provide more than 400 jobs during construction, approximately $7 million in property tax revenues over its service life, which is projected to begin in 2028.

“We’ve had that land since, I believe, 2004. They had a project they were looking at doing at the time that never went through,” officials said. “When we were looking at land for a facility like this that we already owned, this was a really good fit because it’s adjacent to the natural gas pipeline and available transmission capacity. There are a lot of good things about this site that fit what we’re trying to do.”

They are seen as a cost-effective to generate energy during peak demand, the company says. The six-acre facility will be on 20 acres of land. About six high-paying jobs would come with the building of this facility.

“This investment in generation resources would serve customers for the next 40 years,” literature the supervisors were provided with said.

The energy center project has yet to go through the regulatory process. The company also looks to expand its solar footprint in the state and filed a proposed project with the Iowa Utilities Board recently for approval.

The supervisors reminded the MidAmerican representatives that Adair County has moratoriums in place on the number of wind turbines and the number of acres in solar farms. They said the company does not look to expand either of these things at this time.