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MidAmerican Energy Names Wind Turbine Manufacturer

May 15, 2005 by Jeff Shepard

MidAmerican Energy Co. (Des Moines, IA) announced that Mitsubishi Power Systems Inc. will manufacture, and M.A. Mortenson Co. will erect, 50 additional wind turbines for the expansion of MidAmerican's wind project. MidAmerican received regulatory approval January 31, 2005, to expand its 310.5 MW Iowa wind project by an additional 50 MW.

The agreement with Mitsubishi provides for the production and delivery of 50, 1 MW wind turbines, which will be 226 ft tall and will have rotor blades 100 ft in length. The agreement with M.A. Mortenson provides for the erection of the wind turbines near both of MidAmerican’s existing wind project locations. Thirty five of the 50 wind turbines will be located at the Century Wind Project site in Wright and Hamilton counties in north central Iowa, with the remaining 15 wind turbines located at the Intrepid Wind Project site in Sac and Buena Vista counties in northwest Iowa.

When the entire wind project is completed at the end of the year, 257 wind turbines will be on-line with capability to produce enough energy for 100,000 homes. The completion of the wind project also will mean that 489 MW, or approximately 9%, of MidAmerican’s electric generating capability will come from renewable energy sources.