Provider of reliable energy
Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative purchases its power requirements from Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO), based in Cedar Rapids. CIPCO is Iowa's largest cooperative energy provider. In operation since 1946, CIPCO has generated and transmitted electricity to 13 member-owned electric cooperatives and associations, including Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative. These cooperatives distribute the power to populations of nearly 300,000 member-owners located in 58 of Iowa's 99 counties. The service territory stretches 300 miles diagonally across Iowa, with more than 300 member substations and delivery points. CIPCO has a diverse mix of generation resources. Its power and energy is produced from coal, oil, a landfill gas-to-energy system, wind, solar and hydro power plants.
Summit Lake Station at Creston, Iowa is owned by CIPCO and is fueled by oil and natural gas.
A purchase power agreement with Linn County Solid Waste Agency was finalized to purchase the entire output from a landfill gas-to-energy system. The 1.6 megawatts of electricity is produced when the system collects methane created by decomposing trash at its landfill site and uses it to power an internal combustion engine that drives a generator to produce electricity.
Wind and Hydro rescoures include power purchase agreements with wind centers located near Greeley, Garner, Hawkeye, Grand Junction, Mechanicsville and Audubon. CIPCO also purchases small amounts from hydroelectric systems and capacity and interchange energy from other utilitites.
CIPCO has completed construction on over 6 MW of utility scale solar projects. Solar energy provides an abundant supply of emission and carbon-free electricity. These solar farms are located on six member sites; Osceola, Pella, Marshalltown, Urbana, Wilton and Corning, IA.
CIPCO is also organized as a non-profit Cooperative created for the purpose of generating and transmitting electricity to its member-owners like us.
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1. Western Area Power Administration
2. Elk Wind Farm, Greeley
3. Hawkeye Wind Farm, Hawkeye
4. Rippey Wind Farm, Grand Junction
5. Pioneer Grove Wind, Mechanicsville
6. HZ Wind, Nevada
7. Summit Lake Generating Plant, Creston
8. Louisa Generating Station, Muscatine
9. Walter Scott, Jr., Energy Center #3 & #4, Council Bluffs
10. Linn County Solid Waste Agency, Marion
11-16. Solar Sites; Osceola, Pella, Marshalltown, Urbana, Wilton and Corning
17. Heartland Divide Wind Energy Center, Audubon
18. Wapello Solar LLC, Wapello
19. Independence Wind Energy, Ryan
CIPCO’s purchase power agreement for Wapello Solar LLC locks in stable, long-term pricing and avoids the risks associated with rising fuel costs. Renewable energy credits (RECs) are not included in this agreement.
CIPCO invests in the development of renewable energy projects in several ways. We operate six small-scale solar arrays near communities we serve and retain the renewable energy credits associated with each. We also contract with energy producers for the electricity output from wind, hydro, and methane gas from a landfill (converted into electricity). CIPCO cannot claim these resources as renewable within our supply portfolio as we have either sold to third parties or do not receive the renewable attributes associated with the electricity produced from these renewable power sources. By selling these attributes (RECs), we not only support other organizations in meeting their renewable energy goals, we also generate revenue to help us lower our wholesale power rate to our 12 Member-owner distribution cooperatives and 15 municipalities.
Wind assets indicated on the map do not include wind facilities with capacity of less than 2 MW.