MidAmerican Energy Company is an energy company based in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. 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. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. 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 Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. Its territory is wholly encompassed by the territory of the

Midcontinent Independent System Operator The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., formerly named Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (MISO) is an Independent System Operator (ISO) and Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) providing open-access transmissio ...

. Major cities in MidAmerican Energy's service territory are

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

Sioux City Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

, Council Bluffs,

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

, and the Quad Cities. 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.

Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center

MidAmerican Energy is the developer and operator of the

Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center Walter may refer to: People * Walter (name), both a surname and a given name * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968) * Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...

, a four-unit coal-fired power plant based in Council Bluffs. 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, 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 GE Wind Energy is a branch of GE Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of General Electric. The company manufactures and sells wind turbines to the international market. In 2018, GE was the fourth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world. History ...

. In June 2016 MAE signed up for 2 GW in Iowa (Wind XI) supplied by Vestas in Colorado, estimated at $2.2 billion. On July 26, 2016, MAE agreed to supply power to

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

datacenter A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunic ...

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 is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

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.

References

External links