Reconsider truly efficient energy sources

Despite massive tax credits, industrial wind and solar always increases electricity rates. The wind and sun are not free if land owners are paid to harvest them. On March 1, 2019, Alliant Energy filed an application with the Iowa Utilities Board seeking an annual increase of 25 percent ($203.6 million) in residential electricity rates for a wind project. On Jan. 9, 2020, the Iowa Utilities Board granted a 15 percent increase ($127 million) providing a return on equity of 9.5 percent.

Their intention to file for another rate increase for solar projects has already been announced. Also, the currently proposed projects are only the beginning of plans for many more acres of solar, battery storage and no doubt rate increases to replace the generation of the DAEC nuclear plant.

Utilities are regulated monopolies. Wind and solar produce energy intermittently, which means that dispatchable on-demand backup sources are required in order to provide reliable energy. If the Iowa Utilities Board is going to guarantee a specific rate of return, investing in inefficient and intermittent energy sources with a rate of return guaranteed by the regulators is the best way for a utility to increase profits.

Those who are genuinely concerned about CO2 emissions should embrace nuclear energy. Storage of spent nuclear fuel has become much less of a problem since it is now being re-enriched both in the U.S. and abroad, and the degree of enrichment required for electricity generation is far less than that required to make a nuclear weapon.

Fred Hubler

Cedar Rapids