Building on Iowa’s Energy Leadership

What is it about Iowa? What makes us a national energy leader? Consider: Iowa is the nation's leader in renewable wind energy generation with over 12,000 megawatts of wind generation capacity installed. This infrastructure generated an amount equal to 59% of the electricity consumed in Iowa in 2023.

Iowa ranks in the Top 10 for electric power grid reliability.

Iowa is the No. 1 ethanol producer with 42 corn ethanol plants, producing 30% of the nation's ethanol, some 44.1 billion gallons annually.

Iowa is the No. 1 biodiesel producer accounting for 20% of the nation’s capacity, some 353 million gallons.

None of this is accidental, Iowa has thoughtfully planned how to build out the infrastructure of each of these energy industry sectors through adoption of sound public policy. When Iowa had not added significant electric generation assets to the fleet between the 1980s to 2000, the Iowa legislature passed an advanced rate-making law that informed energy providers and customers with an early understanding of the costs of adding new forms of generation. This green-lighted new coal and gas plants
and the wind generation fleets we rely on today and delivers this energy at rates well below national averages.

When a former Iowa governor observed barge after barge of Iowa corn moving down river on the Mississippi, the goal of value-added agriculture was adopted. Policymakers sought to incent projects that would make sure Iowa went beyond simple commodity production and delivered end-state products for commercial consumption. Like ethanol and biodiesel.

In January of this year, Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke during her Condition of the State Address that Iowa needed to update its energy laws for a new time and make sure Iowa remained positioned to be a national leader. While, at this writing it is unknown how that legislation will fare, policymakers must remain vigilant to keep Iowa at the forefront of energy production for the benefits it brings to the Iowa economy. ABI