Iowa generated the second most electricity from wind farms in the country in 2013, trailing only Texas, according to a recent release from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In fact, Iowa leads the nation in wind generation share with 27.4% of net electricity production coming from wind turbines, and many of those turbines are located right here in our local area.

According to Midwest Partnership Executive Director Chad Schreck, his organization’s four-county region of Adair, Audubon, Greene and Guthrie Counties has five wind farms generating about 1,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of power on an annual basis.

Schreck says these wind farms are a “real positive” for our area. 

“There are people on both sides of the issue obviously like with anything else, but in general, (wind production) has been a very positive thing for our area.  We’ve actually got a lot of employment through it, as far as Siemens having a facility in our area that they use to go out to the towers to service them… so on that end it has been a great asset, and like I’ve said, it just drives a lot of new value into our economy that hadn’t been there in the past.”

For more information about the recently released wind energy rankings, CLICK HERE.