$1 Billion Wind Turbines for Iowa

Tue Dec 17, 2013 at 05:32 AM PST

Wind power generation almost at par w Coal as Buffet spends $1 Billion on new Iowa wind generators

by Lefty CoasterFollow

Wind Power has arrived at a point where it is almost competitive with Coal for generation. Warren Buffet's electrical utility is poised to spend $1 Billion on new wind turbines in Iowa.

Wind Power Rivals Coal With $1 Billion Order From Buffett By Ehren Goossens

The decision by Warren Buffett’s utility company to order about $1 billion of wind turbines for projects in Iowa shows how a drop in equipment costs is making renewable energy more competitive with power from fossil fuels.

Turbine prices have fallen 26 percent worldwide since the first half of 2009, bringing wind power within 5.5 percent of the cost of electricity from coal, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a unit of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., yesterday announced an order for 1,050 megawatts of Siemens AG wind turbines in the industry’s largest order to date for land-based gear.

5.5% is a relatively small premium to pay to buy sustainable green energy drove dirty coal power generation. Coal is the most destructive fuel available for generating electric energy of any fossil fuel. 

Coal now provides a large portion of the worlds electrical generation capacity, and that won't change overnight. But this shows how close how competitive greener alternatives are coming to conventional fossil fuels. That gives electric utilities all over the world a new cleaner alternative to dirty coal for a small price deferential. And that's very good news for all of us who want a future on this planet.