Blizzards During Iowa Caucus Led to Record Wind Power Generation
DES MOINES, Iowa — The successive blizzards that swept over Iowa during the run up to the state’s recent caucuses helped create a new wind power generation record in the state.
That’s the word from Geoff Greenwood, spokesman for MidAmerican Energy, who talked about the effect of the storms with Radio Iowa.
According to Greenwood, the strong winds that made 9 degrees below zero feel like 40 degrees below zero “really made wind energy fare really well.”
“We cranked out a lot of wind energy and, in fact, on Friday [of caucus week] we set a peak daytime record for wind energy output here in our state,” he said.
Greenwood also reported that the company encountered no problems associated with the freezing cold, though it prepares extensively for such eventualities.
Iowa is a wind energy powerhouse in the United States, and is second only to Texas in terms of wind energy production.
About 64% of Iowa’s energy production now comes from wind, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
