The vast majority of Iowa’s windpower capacity was built for reasons other than complying with the state’s renewable energy policy. Additional information on windpower development in Iowa can be accessed here. According to the Iowa Policy Project, windpower accounted for 14% of the state’s electric output in 2009. Windpower capacity alone in Iowa now totals 3,670 MW, and the Hawkeye State is now the second largest producer of wind-generated electricity in the nation behind Texas. That mandate has not been increased or modified since that time.įast forward to April 2010. By 1997, both utilities had achieved full compliance with that law. In the first place, Iowa’s Alternative Energy Production ( AEP) law, which dates from 1983, requires the state’s two largest electric utilities to add a mere 105 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity between them. The argument advanced by these three lawmakers is truly absurd, given the facts of the situation. As ammunition for their argument, the representatives point to recent requests in Iowa to raise electric rates, which they attribute to the state’s renewable energy policy. Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem), Phil Montgomery (R-Green Bay), and Scott Gunderson (R-Waterford) contend that the substitute amendment for the Clean Energy Jobs Act, released earlier this week, will drive up electric rates across Wisconsin. Legislators Fire Blanks at Clean Energy Jobs Act A commentary by Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin:
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