MidAmerican upgrading Wright County windmills

Soon, MidAmerican Energy Company will begin work to upgrade the Century Wind Project in the southeast portion of Wright County, which was first brought online in 2005. Work on the wind turbines will involve hauling in heavy equipment and materials over paved and gravel roads.

“They are going to have to do some upgrades to some intersections,” said Adam Clemons, Wright County engineer.

Clemons said that entrances to the turbine easements would need to widened with earth and gravel for equipment transport, and that once work was completed, those entrances would be brought back to their original states. The project will have MidAmerican working over 8.5 miles of gravel roads in the county, Clemons said, and also doing similar work on the Hamilton County side of the project.  

To protect the Wright County roads, Clemons brought a road use agreement before the county supervisors on Monday to sign.

The agreement states that damages to the gravel, paved roads, or drainage structures “in excess of normal use” will be repaired or paid for by MidAmerican. Complaints about dust from the operations that are addressed to the county will be referred to MidAmerican to solve, and the county will help investigate the problem.

For more county business, see the August 17 edition of the Monitor.