County supervisors receive IUB application for Orient Energy Center

The Orient Energy Center is another step closer to being a reality after the Adair County supervisors acknowledged receipt last Wednesday of copies MidAmerican Energy’s paperwork with the Iowa Utilities Commission, which are required to build the project.

The paperwork includes a 40-page application for a certificate of public convenience, use and necessity. This document is a regulatory approval required for public utility companies constructing and operating new facilities or extending new ones. It grants permission to provide services from these facilities that are deemed essential to the public good, ensuring public interest is served.

MidAmerican Project Developer Megan Pearson stated in the cover letter for the application that this project is being developed after the company conducted a resource evaluation study that examined the company’s options for a long-range generation portfolio to meet “Iowa’s projected economic growth and increasing demand for electricity” in a fast-moving energy landscape.

The Orient Energy Center will include two simple-cycle combustion turbines that will operate as needed to produce power during periods of high demand using natural gas or fuel oil, Pearson wrote. The letter reiterated that the turbines will only run part of the time, a sentiment that was also stressed during a public meeting in Orient held June 18.

“This facility will be a key addition to MidAmerican’s all-of-the-above generation strategy,” Pearson said. “MidAmerican plans to begin early site preparation this year, with plans to start construction in 2026 and have the facility operational by 2028.”