Iowa leads in wind

Iowa has worked its way from No. 7 to No. 1 in wind energy.

By the end of 2014, Iowa produced 28.5 percent of its electricity from wind energy, the highest in the country.

That number is expected to increase to more than 30 percent by the end of this year.

“[The amount of energy produced] is comparable with some of the best countries in the world, like Denmark,” said University of Iowa Provost P. Barry Butler, the Iowa Wind principal investigator.

Currently, the state has a grant from the National Science Foundation covering three different parts of renewable energy, one of which is wind energy.

“We get money from the National Science Foundation every year for five years,” Butler said. “It’s about $1 million a year.”

The money has been used to fund projects at Kirkwood Community College and to purchase equipment such as wind towers.

Sri Sritharan, an engineering professor at Iowa State University and associate head for graduate study and research, credits Iowa’s success with wind energy to the state’s ability to produce all three components to generate it.

“Iowa was the first to have companies in state to produce all three components for wind energy — the tower, the turbine itself, and the blade,” Sritharan said. “In terms of purchasing and shipping, that’s going to be attractive.” (full article...)

ALYSSA GUZMAN, The Daily Iowan, May 11, 2015.