Stick with renewable technologies that work

MidAmerican Energy’s announcement of its “Wind Prime” project is a confusing step in generally the right direction. But let’s first make one thing clear: MidAmerican is not a 100 percent clean energy company. They operate several coal-burning power plants in Iowa with no plans to close them. These pollute Iowa’s air now and will into the future. They sell nearly all their fossil-fueled power out of state, as wind generation takes care of almost all MidAm’s Iowa customers’ needs. Even with Wind Prime, MidAmerican will remain Iowa’s No. 1 carbon polluter.

Wind Prime is confusing because while investments in 2,042 MW of wind and 50 MW of solar are good and necessary for the transition to a clean energy economy, the undefined commitment to “study” carbon capture and modular (or “mini”) nuclear muddies the waters. Both technologies have barely moved beyond the theoretical and testing stages and neither are commercially viable today. We need climate solutions today, not in 20 years. Why would MIdAm waste ratepayers’ money “studying” technologies that don’t work now, may never work, or eventually be hugely costly to implement? Wind, solar and battery storage are proven technologies that can be deployed today; why not stick with those? This might be because it’s easier and more profitable to keep polluting Iowa’s air to sell power out of state.

Matthew Peirce

Des Moines