Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy has entered into an agreement with Meta to buy power from its Great Pathfinder Wind project in Boone and Hamilton counties to provide energy to Meta’s operations in the region, including its data center in Altoona. According to a news release, it is Meta’s second clean-power purchase agreement in Iowa. “Our […]

MidAmerican Energy says it has idled nearly four dozen electricity-generating wind turbines while workers check them for safety after blades broke off of two similar turbines over the past two months, reports the Des Moines Register. Those blade failures follow a break earlier this year and one in 2019. The blades that fell recently were on […]

Iowa State University aerospace engineering professor Hui Hu has received a three-year $303,587 grant from the Iowa Energy Center to support research exploring ice formation on wind turbine blades, which could make a difference in Iowans’ energy bills, ISU reports. The grant supports Hu’s lab work in the Aircraft Icing Physics and Anti-/De-icing Technology Laboratory, […]

The Iowa Economic Development Authority has granted a $200,000 grant to Fairfield-based Ideal Energy for two projects to study storing wind energy in batteries, the Energy News Network reported. The Fairfield firm will pass information along to Iowa State University for analysis. “We think there is much potential in this state for storage applications,” said […]

The drop in cost for natural gas and wind energy to produce electricity was a key factor in the decision to close Iowa’s only nuclear power plant in 2020, five years earlier than projected, Radio Iowa reports. Alliant Energy spokesman Justin Foss said ending Alliant’s purchase of power contract with the Duane Arnold Energy Center […]

Alliant Energy and Invenergy have signed contracts to complete development of a 210-megawatt (MW) Richland Wind Farm in Sac County, reports the Corridor Business Journal. The move is part of Alliant Energy’s plan to add 1,000 megawatt wind generation to Iowa businesses and communities by 2020 – enough to power 430,000 thousand average Iowa homes. […]