MidAmerican Energy, in an effort to address what it describes as a “looming energy supply shortfall” is proposing to build a $600 million natural gas-fired combustion turbine project in Adair County and increase its solar energy footprint in Iowa.

The utility company, headquartered in Des Moines, is asking the Iowa Utilities Commission to approve the request for the solar projects by mid-August so that construction can begin in 2026 and energy can start being produced in 2027.

Energy-producing companies nationwide are racing to find ways to meet the increasing demand for power. In December, the nonprofit North American Electric Reliability Corp. estimated that half of the United States is at risk of power supply shortfalls in the next five to 10 years.

Demand for electricity in the U.S. is higher now than at any time in the past two decades, said the Atlanta, Ga.-based group that regulates the reliability of the North American power grid. Among the drivers in the huge demand increase are data centers, which consume large amounts of power and are expanding rapidly across the country, including in Iowa.

MidAmerican, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, said it hopes regulatory reviews of the proposed gas turbine plant are completed by the Iowa Utilities Commission and Iowa Department of Natural Resources in the next 12 months so that construction can begin by spring 2026 and be completed December 2027.

The proposed plant, called the Orient Energy Center, could be operational by spring 2028, the utility said.

The Orient center would only operate when demand is high, less than 10% of the year, MidAmerican said. It estimated the plant would generate up to 465 megawatts of energy.

“This project is a substantial commitment to energy reliability, investing in generation resources that will serve customers for the next 40 years,” MidAmerican said in a news release.

MidAmerican owns the land on which the Orient project would be developed. The site already has the necessary infrastructure, MidAmerican said.

Development of the proposed plant would create more than 400 construction-related jobs.
The Orient project would have two gas-fired combustion turbine generators, each with an exhaust stack of about 120 feet to 150 feet tall, or about the height of a grain elevator.

When completed, the plant would employ up to five people in jobs that pay between $100,000 and $125,000 annually, the utility said. In addition, the plant would generate about $7 million in property tax revenues over its service life.

MidAmerican said it has a track record of “safely and successfully operating” natural gas-fired combustion turbines for several decades. It said it operates 28 units on seven sites. The company did not say in the release where the sites are located and did not respond to an email in time for publication.

The proposed solar projects would provide increased energy when wind energy is low, MidAmerican said. The proposed solar project would produce 800 megawatts of power, enough to serve 144,000 typical homes.

MidAmerican wants to move quickly on securing land for the proposed solar fields before more Iowa counties implement moratoriums on energy projects, Adam Jablonski, a vice president for project development for MidAmerican, said in public testimony filed with the state utilities commission.

“Iowa has recently experienced significant changes at the county level that negatively impact the ability to permit energy projects and exacerbate limited site availability,” Jablonski said in his testimony. “More and more counties are imposing moratoriums or unworkable ordinances that do not allow energy projects to be constructed in their counties. This limits the availability of viable projects and makes it more difficult to develop and advance solar projects.”

The solar project would be built on at least six sites, occupying about 4,800 acres, or less than 1% of the farm acres in Iowa, MidAmerican said. The utility didn’t say in the release where the solar fields would be located or how much they would cost to develop.

The solar project would provide nearly $25 million in property tax payments and $270 million in landowner lease payments over the operational life of the project, the utility said.

MidAmerican currently has six solar projects in Iowa, according to its website.

Currently, MidAmerican’s electric rates in Iowa are 42% below the national average, the utility said. The proposed projects will help “keep rates affordable while also ensuring customers have the around-the-clock energy they need,” the utility said.

“We’re focused on ensuring our customers always have reliable power, no matter what’s going on with the weather,” Kelcey Brown, MidAmerican’s president and CEO, said in a release. “We’re always looking ahead, planning for decades in the future, to make sure we meet the needs of our customers in the most affordable and sustainable way.”