Warren Buffetts Bets The (Wind) Farm On Iowa -- April 15, 2016

Active rigs:

	4/15/2016	04/15/2015	04/15/2014	04/15/2013	04/15/2012
Active Rigs	29	91	183	186	206

RBN Energy: update on natural gas reserves as injection season begins. For someone like me who never understood natural gas five years ago, this is going to be an extremely interesting to watch natural gas injection data this year. I think records are going to be blown away. And it's going to take all the tax credits Washington, DC, can provide to keep intermittent, unreliable energy growing. Speaking of which, Warren Buffet is betting the wind farm on such energy in Iowa. See next story.

Wind energy to grow in Iowa. The Wall Street Journal is reporting: MidAmerican Energy Makes Big Bet on Iowa Wind. The plan would boost the share of electricity Iowa generates from wind to 40% from 31%.

Iowa, which already gets more of its power from wind than any other U.S. state, will become more reliant on the electricity source under a $3.6 billion plan announced Thursday by a utility owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

MidAmerican Energy Co. said Thursday that it is planning to build up to 2,000 additional megawatts of wind turbines with a goal of generating 85% of its power from wind. The company, based in Des Moines, will use renewable-energy tax credits that Congress extended last December to make the project economically feasible, said MidAmerican Chief Executive Bill Fehrman.

MidAmerican is the biggest wind-power producer among regulated utilities nationwide. The company already operates nearly 3,500 megawatts in Iowa, or about 58% of the power it supplies its customers in the state. Parent company Berkshire Hathaway is the third-largest wind-farm owner nationwide, behind NextEra Energy Inc. and Iberdrola SA.

Coal-fired plants remain the leading source of electricity in Iowa, providing 53% of power in 2015, while nuclear, natural gas and hydroelectric power generators produced roughly 16%, according to the U.S. Energy Department.