The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) has approved a settlement regarding MidAmerican Energy's proposed Wind X Iowa electric generation project of up to 552 MW.
According to the IUB, the settlement includes a modification of MidAmerican's original return on equity request.
The agreement provides that the allowed return on the common equity portion of Wind X that will be included in Iowa electric rate base will be 11.35%, which is down from 11.5% proposed by MidAmerican.
In modifying the settlement agreement, the IUB set the cost cap for Wind X at $1.61 million/MW including allowance for funds used during construction – down from $1.638 million/MW for the completed project.
‘This lower cap reduces the risk to customers and provides an incentive to MidAmerican to keep costs low while still providing a contingency for unanticipated changes that could increase costs above that shown by MidAmerican's economic analysis,’ notes the IUB.
MidAmerican has 30 days from the date of the decision order to notify the board whether it accepts the ratemaking principles. If accepted, the ratemaking principles would be effective for the regulated life of the facilities.
