Iowa Wind Energy Association (IWEA) President Harold Prior doesn’t get tired of telling his counterparts across the country how Iowa’s installed wind turbine capacity has become the nation’s second largest, even though the state has only the seventh-best wind resources. Mind you, he’s not trying to brag. They’re telephoning him.

“I get repeated calls from other places: ‘What can we do to do a better job? Why can’t we do the same thing?'” said Prior, who credits much of the state’s success to support from its elected officials.

During the third annual IWEA conference, “Harnessing the Power of the Plains” held April 7 at Iowa State University’s Scheman Conference Center, participants gathered intelligence on the industry while fishing for new opportunities to enter or broaden their presence in Iowa’s rapidly growing windscape.

Wind energy, which according to the most recent data from the American Wind Energy Assocation provides 14 percent of the state’s electrical generation, presents “a terrific opportunity” to bring more people and good-paying jobs to Iowa, Prior said.

“These are good jobs with the wind industry; they bring people here – engineering jobs, operations and maintenance jobs, manufacturing jobs. So the benefit to Iowa is not urban or rural, it’s across all spectrums of Iowa’s economy and landscape.”

For organizations that are considering developing wind energy projects, there are many risks to consider, and many variables that go into a project, said John Wilhelm, national marketing manager for John Deere Renewable Energy, a Johnston-based subsidiary of Deere & Co.

“In this economic climate, there has been some slowing down of projects,” Wilhelm said during a breakout session aimed at organizations such as municipal utilities or smaller companies seeking to develop mid-sized wind farm projects. “I think the turbine manufacturers are definitely more aggressive in finding buyers for their products. But you have to go out and hustle to find (the deals).”

Over the past several years, Deere has developed 36 wind projects totaling 700 megawatts (MW) of capacity in eight states, which puts the company among the top five wind developers in the country and the 10th largest in installed capacity, Wilhelm said.

“We focus on rural economic development and collaborating with communities,” he said. “Obviously, being a farm equipment manufacturer, if the communities aren’t happy with us about what we’re doing, that’s not going to be good for us as a company.”

Though turbine prices decreased by as much as 25 percent last year as a result of the global recession and other factors, total installed costs of wind projects have increased by about 65 percent between 2001 and 2009, to about $2,120 per kilowatt of capacity, according to industry data that Wilhelm presented. Over that same period, turbine prices have risen about 100 percent, to approximately $700 per megawatt.

“You need to have a good expectation of the costs of a project to avoid sticker shock,” he said. “And if you do get a good deal, then you can just be happy.”

One of the largest coordinated statewide efforts by small organizations has been by the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities (IAMU), which has been working to develop a 100 MW wind farm in Boone County for the past four years.

“We’re pretty well along in the development phase of the project,” said Anne Kimber, director of energy services for IAMU and also a co-manager of the project. “We expect to complete an interconnection agreement with (the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator) by November or December.” A total of 33 municipal utilities across the state are partnering in the project, which has an estimated price tag of $250 million.

Among some of the critical issues still to be decided is whether the organization should own the project itself or structure it under a purchase power agreement, she said. The IAMU is considering a number of funding options for the project, including municipal bonds, Clean Renewable Energy Bonds, Build America Bonds and so-called “flip” arrangements in which local landowners partner with equity investors that use federal production tax credits generated from a project.

Several members of Iowa’s congressional delegation, including representatives Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley and Tom Latham, each of whom have supported legislation to grow the industry in the state, spoke during the conference.

Assessing the employment potential of the industry, which currently provides an estimated 3,200 manufacturing jobs in Iowa, Braley said demand will enter a new phase as the industry begins to mature.

“As wind farms continue to grow in size, the demand for maintenance of the turbines will become much more significant,” he said. “So it will create a significant work force of people to work for those wind farms to make sure they’re functioning.

“The other thing that’s going on is that we have seen a lot of growth in the manufacturing sector in Iowa to create the various components that go into wind turbines,” Braley said. “There’s a small company in Waverly that makes one very unique component, and they make different components depending on whether it’s a European or an American manufacturer. But it shows you the global reach that it’s having on a company here in Iowa.”

Iowa’s wind industry could face a shortage of trained technicians once production of turbines and construction of additional wind farms really ramps up, said William Moss, owner of Moss Enterprises Inc. The Hiawatha-based company provides hands-on instructional modules for middle schools, high schools and community colleges,

A number of high schools in Iowa are scaling back or eliminating their industrial technology programs due to a lack of funding, but in many cases community have stepped in to fill the gap, Moss said. His company has supplied instructional wind modules to approximately 20 community colleges in its six-state area.

“If the community colleges can start pumping these (technicians) out, the companies will want to focus less on (in-house training) and more on production and getting equipment out to the job sites,” he said.

Among first-time wind conference participants seeking a foothold in the growing Iowa wind industry was Des Moines-based construction company Neumann Brothers Inc.

“We’re looking for new business opportunities,” said Ted Brackett, the company’s vice president of business development, who manned one of 30 exhibitor booths sponsored by companies ranging from wind-estimating businesses to law firms that specialize in maneuvering through the regulatory landscape. “It’s a growing business, and we feel we have the capabilities to build these projects, from the pure construction sense.”

The company has been involved in constructing a small wind turbine for Grinnell College, but has not yet landed the type of large-scale wind project that could lead to significant contracts in the industry, Brackett said.

However, “we’ve discovered that different companies doing different aspects of these projects have been involved with us, so we hope to use that to help us get our foot in the door,” he said.

Another first-time conference participant, Plambeck New Energy USA Inc., a subsidiary of Germany-based PNE Wind AG, is seeking to expand its footprint into Iowa. In North America, the company has developed wind projects in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Saskatchewan.

“We’d like to do wind projects for utilities or to partner with companies that are working with utilities,” said Kelly Lloyd, PNE USA’s general manager, who is based in Chicago. Iowa’s No. 2 position in installed capacity was one of the factors that attracted the company to the state, he said.

IWEA, which was incorporated at the beginning of 2008, has grown from 33 members that first year to 120 by the end of 2009.

“We try to represent the broadest interests of people interested in the wind industry,” Prior said, “and that would include farmers, manufacturers, operation and maintenance companies, companies that do transmission line work.”

Iowa’s wind industry enjoys tremendous support from both its federal and state lawmakers as well as the governor, Prior said.

“Everybody has given us so much support to build this industry in Iowa,” he said.