Lynda Waddington via the Iowa Independent
The nation’s largest public power company will soon be powering homes and businesses across a seven state area with Iowa wind energy.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal corporation, entered into a 20-year contract with Texas-based Horizon Wind Energy LLC last week. The company will purchase up to 115 megawatts of renewable energy from the Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm, located in Howard and Mitchell counties in northeastern Iowa.
Generation is expected to begin this fall, subject to applicable environmental requirements and firm transmission arrangements being secured. The contracts are a result of a request for proposals TVA issued in December 2008.
Horizon, owned by EDP Renováveis S.A., operates more than 20 wind farms across the U.S. that produce more than 2,800 megawatts of power. The company operates three wind farms in Iowa.
TVA provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia — an area of 80,000 square miles with a population of 9 million. The company makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money. It is funded by sales of electricity to its customers, and electricity prices in TVA’s service territory are below the national average.
