IEA to Build 300 MW Nebraska Wind Farm

Indianapolis-based infrastructure construction company Infrastructure and Energy Alternatives, Inc. (IEA) announced a new wind energy project valued at approximately $98 million.

The deal is for construction of the Milligan 1 Wind Farm in Saline County in southeast Nebraska.

The 300-megawatt project is expected to provide enough energy to power up to 115,000 homes. The power generated by the project’s planned 99 turbines will be delivered into the Southwest Power Pool electrical grid.

The wind farm, which is located near Nebraska’s capital city of Lincoln, will draw upon power generated from a combination of Vestas V110, Siemens (SIEMENS.NS) 129 and Siemens 145 turbines.

Work on the Milligan 1 project is scheduled to begin in September with full operation by November 2020.

EDF Renewables North America is the lead developer on the project.

The scope of IEA’s work on Milligan 1 Wind includes engineering and construction of the turbine foundations, turbine access roads, MV collection system, wind turbine installation and construction of the on-site operations and maintenance building.  

“This significant new project in Nebraska is indicative of the ongoing strong demand for wind power that we are experiencing this year,” said JP Roehm, IEA’s Chief Executive Officer.

The U.S. wind power industry increased its overall capacity by 8 percent in 2018 to 96,433 megawatts. That more than doubled the capacity level at the start of this decade and is enough to power more than 30 million homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

A 2019 McKinsey & Company forecast called for continued growth in renewable energy investments, including wind, for several years: The share of renewables in global power generation could grow from around 25% today to 50% by 2035 and 75% by 2050.

IEA is a leading builder of wind energy projects in the U.S. The Company has assembled more than 7,200 wind turbines across North America.