Urbandale Wind Development Company Partners With Italian Firm

An Urbandale-based wind development company is partnering with an Italian company to develop a wind farm pipeline in Iowa, currently the No. 2 producer in the country of wind energy.

Optimum Renewables, LLC, and Building Energy, the Italian company, will work together to develop several medium-sized wind farms across the state, the Des Moines Business Record reported.

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The 4- to 5-megawatt farms will add about 50 megawatts of wind power to the state’s inventory. The partnership represents a significant step in the diversification of Building Energy, which has been involved in the production of renewable energy in Italy and numerous other foreign markets. Until now, Building Energy has concentrated almost exclusively on solar projects.

Optimum Renewables will identify potential sites in Iowa and Building Energy will act as the developer and will wholly own the farms.

Wind farms in Iowa comprised 24.5 percent of Iowa’s total energy production in 2012, the Business Record reported.

Large wind farms in northwest Iowa still produce most of that energy, but smaller projects like the ones planned by Optimum Renewables and Building Energy will help the rest of the state catch up, Iowa Wind Energy Association Executive Director Harold Prior said.

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