HOW MUCH OF IOWA’S WIND POWER STAYS IN IOWA?

March 2020 | blogpost by Katie Rock

Flash back to ten years ago, when Iowa was leading the country by investing in wind power from our own backyard. Amazing natural wind resources, decreasing renewable energy technology costs, expanding transmission capacity and a combination of state and federal policies and tax credits made Iowa a clean energy leader by choice and not by mandate. Since then, other states that are prime locations for wind power have quickly caught up. Last year Iowa and Kansas generated more power from wind than coal, and Nebraska and Oklahoma saw rapid growth in wind last year too.

As a result of our head start, other early investments came not just from our own utilities but also from out of state companies looking to green their energy consumption and boost their sustainability goals. Those companies invested in Iowa wind farms and now export roughly one third of our wind power out of state through contract purchases (referred to as PPAs or power purchase agreements).

So what? Does it matter if someone in Iowa is making money off wind that goes out of state? We are an export commodity state, after all. A lot has been written about how rural landowners and school districts are benefiting financially from wind power. We all benefit from cleaner energy use, so what’s the problem?

Other states are getting the benefits of our cheap wind energy, and we should be too. The great thing about clean energy is the fuel is free. We literally are making something out of nothing. At the same time, we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to import dirty coal from out-of-state that pollutes our air and water, and exacerbates climate change. Iowa can complement the excess power generated at night from wind with solar power during the day without an overly expensive expansion of our transmission grid.

TurbinesNearPocahontas.jpg

While Iowa is further ahead than other states in transitioning to renewable energy, it is critical that our transition be truly clean and prioritize lower carbon emissions and pollution. Many of our Iowa coal plants are uneconomic. The plants cost more to run than the value they provide in energy. Every part of using coal carries a cost from mining, transporting by rail, burning, pollution controls at the plant, and disposing of the ash. Yet utilities are guaranteed profits.

This means rate paying customers are paying the price. Those most affected are the people who can least afford high electric bills, and small businesses and nonprofits working to stay open on tight margins. Iowa is over capacity in coal power and sells this excess electricity to other utilities on the cheap. And the resulting pollution remains in the air we breathe, coal dust blowing in our communities, and mercury accumulating in our soils and wildlife.

Just how much money is Iowa sending out-of-state to buy coal? For the last week we have been sharing stats on how much each Iowa coal plant has spent importing out-of-state coal under #CoalTruth. This data summarizes the most recent available five years of delivered coal by power plant as reported by utilities to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Most of Iowa’s coal comes from Wyoming (97%), with small fractions from Illinois and Pennsylvania. Consider this: in 2018 alone, Iowa spent $372 million importing coal from Wyoming.

Curious how much the nearest coal plant near you is spending? Follow along this week and share the stats on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #CoalTruth. And next week we will circle back here to summarize the facts.

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Out-of-state Coal Fuel Spending Summary

 

Coal Plant

Location (Iowa)

5-year Total Coal Costs

Years*

Burlington

Burlington

 $    91,041,350

2015-2019

George Neal N

Sioux City

 $   192,272,593

2015-2019

George Neal S

Sioux City

 $   249,427,282

2015-2019

Iowa State Univ.

Ames

 $     59,324,043

2011-2015

Lansing

Lansing

 $     93,573,755

2014-2018

Louisa

Louisa county

 $   373,506,350

2015-2019

Muscatine

Muscatine

 $     110,915,334

2015-2019

Ottumwa

Ottumwa

 $   345,817,123

2015-2019

Walter Scott

Council Bluffs

 $   619,303,115

2015-2019

TOTAL

 

$   2,135,180,945

 

 

* based on the most recent data as reported to EIA.gov. Totals differ from figures shared on social media infographics due to discrepancies in the timing of available data. Data on our infographics were totaled up to May 2019. These figures represent totals up to December 2019, or an additional 7 months of coal fuel sales.