‘No sweat: Wind pulled its weight in steamy Midwest summer 2022‘
Posted on Friday, September 23, 2022 in Energy News
We started the summer with regional grid operator MISO warning of rolling blackouts in early May of 2022. In this paper, we took apart those warnings and explained the real reasons for capacity shortages. In June, Iowa and much of the Upper Midwest experienced heat waves, including multiple days with temperatures in the upper 90s, but avoided outages. Fresh Energy crunched the numbers to show how renewable energy reliably helped keep the lights on and air conditioning running on those days.
Iowa is a national renewable energy leader, with 57% of our energy generated by wind. Traditionally, August is one of the lowest wind months in Iowa. In this post, we examine the question: does wind perform predictably and reliably even in these conditions? And, how could solar and storage complement this great resource to make our system even more resilient? Read more
Watch Now: Iowa Electric Generation
NOTE: Video begins at 1:11 mark (Video link)
Sep 14, 2022 Video – Iowa’s renewable energy leadership has been often-praised and is real. But as we approach higher levels of renewables, our electric utilities continue to own and operate massive coal operations, polluting Iowa’s air and water, risking health, and costing us money on our utility bills. Business as usual, following the plans of Iowa utilities to burn coal well into the next several decades, will simply not achieve the fast but reliable transition we need to clean energy.
If you are curious about what kind of progress Iowa has really made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and how far we have to go, join us as we take a closer look at the state of Iowa’s energy generation, where Iowa’s emissions are coming from, and the impacts Iowa’s remaining fossil fuel generation has on our environment, health, and pocketbooks.
READ THE FULL REPORT:
Iowa Electric Generation – Condition of the State 2022 (PDF)
In April of 2020, the Iowa Environmental Council released Iowa’s Road to 100% Renewable, which summarized various pathways for Iowa to meet a 100% renewable energy goal based on a dozen regional and national studies:
