MidAmerican Energy has given contracts to Mortenson to construct the Arbor Hill and Ivester wind farms in Iowa, which have a combined capacity of 341MW.

Arbor Hill Ivester-680

Image: Mortenson to build the Arbor Hill and Ivester wind farms in Iowa. Photo: courtesy of M. A. Mortenson Company.

While the Arbor Hill wind farm is of 250MW capacity, the Ivester wind farm will have a capacity of 91MW.

Under the scope of its contracts, Mortenson will be responsible for access roads, foundations, collection system installation and erection of the turbines. The construction company will also carry out all civil and high voltage work associated with the two new wind farms in Iowa.

Mortenson wind energy group vice president and general manager Tim Maag said: “We continue to have a strong relationship with MidAmerican Energy and look forward to helping them reach their goal of serving their customers’ electricity demand with 100 percent renewable energy.

“It’s an exciting time to be a part of Iowa’s wind energy revolution.”

Located in Adair County, Arbor Hill will be equipped with 125 Vestas turbines with tower hub heights of 95m. The Arbor Hill wind farm along with the 300MW Orient wind farm that is also being built in Adair County will generate power for more than 230,000 average Iowa homes.

On the other hand, the Ivester wind farm is located in Grundy County. It will be made up of 35 Siemens Gamesa turbines with a combination of tower heights of 85.1m and 80m.

The Ivester wind farm will be capable of generating enough power for more than 38,000 average Iowa homes.

Earlier this month, MidAmerican Energy said that the Ivester wind farm will break ground shortly. The new wind farm is expected to add nearly $875,000 in estimated average annual property taxes in Grundy County, apart from creating construction, operations and maintenance jobs.

Both the Arbor Hill and Ivester wind farms in Iowa are part of the $3.6bn Wind XI Project of MidAmerican Energy that aims to add 2,000MW of new wind generation capacity in the US state by 2019. The utility’s Wind XI Project is expected to meet the power consumption needs of more than 840,000 homes in Iowa.