Sen. Grassley accepts 'U.S. Wind Champion Award' in Everly

EVERLY — U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, traveled to the site of the ongoing Alliant Energy wind project, the Upland Prairie Wind Farm, on Monday to accept the American Wind Energy Association’s U.S. Wind Champion Award. The senator was joined by Alliant Energy officials, AWEA officials, and local and state elected officials at the Upland Prairie Wind Farm’s turbine No. 1, located southeast of Everly to accept the award. The Upland Prairie Wind Farm is comprised of 121 wind turbines, 73 of which are located in northwest Clay County. The project is expected to be fully completed in early 2019.

“Literally no one deserves a wind champion award more than Senator Grassley,” AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan said. “He is the father of the wind energy industry. He literally wrote, back in 1992, the production tax credit into the code so we could launch this industry. ... All of this is because of Senator Grassley’s leadership for so many years. Because of that leadership, Iowa is a leader. Iowa now has 37 percent — soon it will be 40 percent — of its electricity from wind energy.”

“It’s amazing what’s happened in Iowa,” Alliant Energy CEO Patricia Kampling said. “We’re so thankful that we have these tax credits and you just see how much wind has become more economic and efficient every year. This project we’re building now is half the cost of the prior ones we’ve built 10 years ago. It’s just amazing what’s happened in the industry.”

Read more at the full article at The Spencer Daily Reporter.

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