Dive Brief:

• MidAmerican Energy released more details of its $1.9 billion plan to expand its wind portfolio by 1,050 megawatts (MW) in Iowa. The company, a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, already owns more wind capacity than any other U.S. regulated utility.
• The five projects include the 500-MW Highland wind project, the 250-MW Lungren wind project, the 138.6-MW Wellsburg project, the 117-MW Macksburg wind project and a 44.6-MW expansion of its Vienna wind farm. A total of 448 wind turbines will be built.
• The company said the expansion will be built at no net cost to its customers and will help stabilize electric rates over the long term.​

Dive Insight: 

MidAmerican Energy has 2,285 MW of wind power, about 30% of its generation capacity. Coal-fired generation makes up 45%. When the new wind projects are online by the end of 2015, MidAmerican will get 39% of its power from wind.