MidAmerican Energy Company is an energy company based in
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
. Its service area includes almost two-thirds of Iowa, as well as portions of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
, and
Nebraska
Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...
. Its territory is wholly encompassed by the territory of the
Midcontinent Independent System Operator. Major cities in MidAmerican Energy's service territory are
Des Moines
Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
,
Sioux City
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Iowa. The county seat of Woodbury County, Sioux City is the primar ...
,
Sioux Falls
Sioux Falls ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into northern Lincoln County. The population was 192 ...
,
Council Bluffs
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 62,799 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, te ...
,
Waterloo,
Iowa City
Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...
, and the
Quad Cities
The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...
.
MidAmerican Energy Company is a subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
History
MidAmerican Energy was formed in 1995 by the merger of the Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric Company, the main electric and gas provider for southeastern Iowa, with Midwest Resources, the main power provider for central and western Iowa. Midwest Resources in turn, was formed in 1990 by the merger of Midwest Energy and Iowa Resources. Midwest Energy was the holding company for Iowa Public Service company (IPS), the main power provider for northwestern Iowa, while Iowa Resources was the holding company for Iowa Power and Light Company, the main power provider for central and southwestern Iowa.
By 2017, the company had 760,000 electric customers and over 740,000 natural gas customers.
Controversy
MidAmerican Energy Company owns and operates 5 coal plants in the state of Iowa, including units in Salix (near Sioux City), Ottumwa, Louisa, Council Bluffs. These plants are responsible for one-third of Iowa's industrial CO2 Emissions and have been found to have led to 3,700 premature deaths in the U.S. as a result of particulate matter pollution. The Clean Up MidAm Coalition was launched in 2022 to shed light on the health and climate change impacts of these coal plants.
Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center
MidAmerican Energy is the developer and operator of the Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center, a four-unit
coal-fired power plant
A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate a ...
based in
Council Bluffs
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The population was 62,799 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, te ...
. It produces more than 1,600 megawatts of electricity.
Renewable energy
In addition to traditional power plants, MidAmerican Energy began investing in green energy
generation in 2004. As of March 2014, approximately 2,285 megawatts, or nearly 30 percent, of MidAmerican Energy’s total owned generation capacity came from energy generated by the company’s 1,267 wind turbines. In May 2013, MidAmerican Energy announced plans to invest up to $1.9 billion to expand its wind generation fleet and add up to 1,050 megawatts of wind generation in Iowa by year-end 2015.
Siemens Wind Power
Siemens AG ( ) is a German Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is focused on Industrial control system, industrial automation, Building automation , building automation, rail transport a ...
, the manufacturer of the turbines, states that at the time (December 2013) this was the largest single order of onshore wind power turbines that any company had ever received. Components for the turbines are manufactured at two different sites in Iowa and Kansas, and all turbines are to be sited in Iowa. Once the expansion is complete, approximately 3,335 megawatts, or approximately 39 percent, of MidAmerican Energy’s total owned generation capacity will come from wind-powered generation from 1,715 wind turbines. MidAmerican Energy projects that wind power will supply one third of its energy generation by 2020. As of 2016, MAE operates 2 GW of
SWP turbines and 1 GW
GE Wind. In June 2016 MAE signed up for 2 GW in Iowa (Wind XI) supplied by
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
in Colorado, estimated at $2.2 billion. On July 26, 2016, MAE agreed to supply power to
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
and
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
datacenter
A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems.
Since IT operations are crucial for business ...
s in Iowa from Wind XI.
In May 2018, MidAmerican Energy announced a new large-scale wind energy project called “Wind XII.” The project consists of 591 megawatts worth of energy created by wind in Iowa. Wind XII will make MidAmerican the first investor-owned electric utility in the United States to generate
renewable energy
Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...
equal to 100% of its customers usage each year.
Hiring of veterans
MidAmerican Energy won the "Military Friendly Employer Award" in 2017 for its efforts to hire veterans. On its website, the company provides and "Opportunities for Veterans" section that pinpoints which civilian positions open at the company translate well from a military career. Examples of jobs include engineering, outage project managers, and plant operators.
See also
*
Intrepid Wind Farm
*
Rolling Hills Wind Farm
References
External links
*
{{authority control, state=expanded
Berkshire Hathaway
Electric power companies of the United States
Companies based in Des Moines, Iowa
1999 mergers and acquisitions