Iowa’s Wind Power Boom

Iowa is a national leader when it comes to satisfying electric demand with renewable energy and it is poised so get greener. In this episode of Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Mike Fehr who is Senior Vice President of Renewable Generation and Compliance at MidAmerican Energy. The company serves customers in Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota and Nebraska. In Iowa, 60 percent of electric needs are generated with wind. Fehr talks about what it will take to get to 100% renewable generation.“I think it’s going to be really exciting to see all of these different technologies that are really pretty early, kind of in their infancy, competing to fill in that gap that’s created when you get too reliant on just renewables,” said Fehr. “Which of those technologies are stepping up and really being able to be the economic solution to ensure reliability in a grid that has more and more intermittent generation?”Transmission will also have to evolve. “I think the transmission grid itself is going to have to become more robust so I think we’ll really see large investments in transmission. If it’s windy in one part of the energy market and not very windy in another part of the market, you can get a more stable level of production within the market even from just the intermittent generation.”Mike Fehr has been with the Berkshire Hathaway Energy family of businesses since 2010. He is responsible for the operations of MidAmerican’s growing renewable generation fleet, which currently includes more than 3,000 wind turbines, as well as maximizing the output of renewable generation and developing long-term operations plans for the future. Mr. Fehr earned bachelor’s degrees in animal science and mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Kansas.