FIRST-EVER ANNUAL IWEA MEETING HELD AT IOWA LAKES COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S ESTHERVILLE CAMPUS

The first-ever annual meeting and conference for the Iowa Wind Energy Association (IWEA) was held in Estherville on Thursday, March 27, at Iowa Lakes Community College with keynote speaker Iowa Governor Chet Culver.

The goal of this meeting was to bring together a host of wind energy experts to promote the value of increased use of wind energy in the State of Iowa and to elect new officers to assume the roles from the interim officials.

Those in attendance were wind energy companies, wind developers, agricultural landowners, large and small scale wind farm producers, construction companies, energy companies, educators and students.

Following the registration, guests at the business meeting were welcomed by Interim IWEA President Harold Prior. Bylaws and the Treasurer’s report were given by Interim Board Secretary/Treasurer Val Newhouse, and status reports were given by committee chair members Al Zeitz, Bob L’Heureux and Randy Van Dyke.

The business meeting then concluded with the election of directors, led by chair Tom Ellenbecker.

There were 15 spots to be filled during the election of directors and the results are listed below:

Name	Title	Affiliation
Michelle Arenson	Wind Development Manager	Alliant Energy
Dean Crist	Vice President of Regulation	MidAmerican Energy
Bob Lloyd	Plant Manager	Clipper WindPower
Tom Ellenbecker	Sales Manager of Wind Energy Systems	Windmen
Rick Lovenduski	President/Owner	AmpONE
Regi Goodale	Director of Regulatory Affairs	Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives
Bob Haug	Executive Director	Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities
Joe Jongewaard	Project Manager	Iowa Department of Economic Dev.
James McCalley	Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering	Iowa State University
Mark Nolte	Business Development Director	Iowa City Area Development Group
Harold Prior	President	Iowa Lakes Community College
Randy Van Dyke	CEO	Iowa Lakes Regional Water
Mike Kelley	NA	NA
Rob Hach	NA	NA
Jim Martin-Shrom	NA	NA

After the election of officers, the group broke for lunch, after which Governor Culver addressed the guests and commented on the value of wind energy in the State of Iowa. Governor Culver stated that he would like to see Iowa become the national leader in wind energy production and to see 25 percent of Iowa’s electricity come from renewable resources by the year 2025.

After Governor Culver, Moderator and IWEA Interim Board Member Jim McCalley got the ball rolling on the title topic “Wind Energy in Iowa – How High Can it Go?” In this open forum, panelists from all aspects of the wind energy field got to talk about the benefits of wind energy. Panelists included: Tom Wind, wind energy developer; Kim Zuhlke, Vice President at Alliant Energy; and Dale Osborn, Transmission Technical Director at Midwest ISO. Landowner perspectives were covered, as well as manufacturer perspectives, with Bob Lloyd, Plant Manager of Clipper Windpower, representing the manufacturer perspective.

Round table discussions rounded out the day, with Interim IWEA Board Member and Senior Outreach Technical Engineer of AWEA John Dunlop facilitating and presenting a preview of AWEA’s 2008 report, ‘Wind Power OUTLOOK.’

For more information on the Iowa Wind Energy Association, call Angie De Jong at (712) 362-7931 or visit the association’s Web site at www.IowaWindEnergy.org.

 

Iowa Governor Chet Culver speaking to the guests at the IWEA meeting & conference