WHY BUFFETT SEES WIND AS A WINNER

A company’s perspective on why wind energy matters

Jonathan M. Weisgall, January 31, 2015 (The Hill)

“…A Berkshire Hathaway company, MidAmerican Energy, is about halfway done with building up to $1.9 billion worth of wind farms in Iowa [– the biggest economic development project in Iowa history]…We like wind because it is a hedge against fossil prices. We know the 30-year cost for our wind farms. You can’t say the same for a gas plant…[W]ind helps the resource diversity of the grid, improving our energy security…The availability of wind resources gave Iowa a competitive advantage over other states when the state was competing to get [tech] companies to invest…[because they] want long-term assurance of stable prices…[O]ur rural customers…have benefitted from wind resources because it provides property taxes to the county and lease payments to landowners. For example, our $1.9 billion project is going to result in landowner payments of more than $3 million a year. Farmers see wind as a cash crop…[And] we’re pursuing wind resources because it is a proven technology that can address federal environmental policies…Berkshire Hathaway sees it as a good investment.” click here for more

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