DES MOINES, Iowa – (Jan. 12, 2015) – MidAmerican Energy Company has completed work on four of the five wind farms that make up its 1,050-megawatt Wind VIII project – the largest economic development project in Iowa history. The three wind farms completed in 2014 – Lundgren in Webster County, Macksburg in Madison County and Wellsburg in Grundy County – account for a total of 511.4 megawatts of wind generation capacity, to go along with the 44.6 megawatts of generation capacity at the Vienna II wind farm in Marshall County, which was completed in 2013.

The final piece of the Wind VIII project – the 495-megawatt Highland wind farm in O’Brien County – will be finished by the end of 2015. “With more than half the turbines in our Wind VIII project up and running, we’ve reached a major milestone in the development of another sustainable energy solution for our customers,” said Adam Wright, vice president, wind generation and development for MidAmerican Energy.

“By 2016, we’ll be able to produce enough energy from wind to meet the equivalent of approximately half of the electricity needs of our retail customers.” The Wind VIII project, announced in May 2013 during a joint press conference with Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, represents an investment by MidAmerican Energy of up to $1.9 billion.

With the addition of Wind VIII’s 448 turbines at the five wind farm sites, the company’s wind generation fleet will expand to 1,715 turbines, which can produce enough energy to power the equivalent of more than one million average Iowa homes. “We are extremely proud of our progress over the last decade in the development of wind energy,” Wright said. “We constructed our first wind farm in 2004, and today MidAmerican Energy is a national leader in wind generation.”

(Press Release)