Heartland Consumers Power District recently awarded the City of Arlington an Economic Development Grant for $8,750 to pay for half of the cost of a new transformer that was needed to accommodate the expansion of the community’s largest employer and retail customer, Global Polymer Industries.  Arlington Mayor Amiel Redfish and Finance Officer Sue Conover accepted the grant on behalf of the City.

Global Polymer Industries is a manufacturing company that specializes in molded polyethylene products, specifically molded Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE).  UHMW-PE is a highly specialized polyethylene that is seven times lighter than steel and three times lighter than aluminum, but has unmatched impact strength, can withstand extreme temperatures, and has an unsurpassed combination of slickness, toughness, and chemical resistance.  Global utilizes UHMW-PE to manufacture more than fifty different products, including augers, cams, flow guides, guide rollers, pulleys, and wiper blades, to name a few.

Global expanded its company in 2007and recently acquired an additional five acres north of their current location for construction and expansion in 2008.  “The City of Arlington realizes the benefits of Global’s continued success,” said Mayor Redfish.  “Global is projecting to add twenty jobs to their payroll, and the City will see a significant increase in electric revenue from their expansion.”

Russell Olson, Heartland Manager of Community & Economic Development, traveled to Arlington to present the grant check to the City.  “Arlington is a growing and progressive community that has been a true advocate of Heartland and public power,” said Olson.  “The installation of dual transformers needed to service this growing company is an example of a true partnership between Arlington, Global Polymer and Heartland, with all entities coming together to find the best solution.”

Heartland Consumers Power District, a non-profit corporation headquartered in Madison, South Dakota, provides supplemental power to the City of Arlington from a diversified mix of resources in the Midwest. The City of Arlington then retails the power to its residents, businesses, and industries.  Heartland awards Economic Development Grants to Customers and/or Customer Economic Development Corporations on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Applicants must have a specific project in mind, particularly one that will foster growth and development, improve energy efficiencies, or increase the quality of life in their community.

Dave Clarke, owner of Clarke Machine, Inc., of Howard, South Dakota, was recently presented with a check for $3,000 as part of Heartland’s Growth Incentive Program.  Manager of Community & Economic Development Russell Olson, Howard Mayor Donald Arens, and Miner County Community Revitalization Executive Director Randy Parry presented the check to Clarke.  Also present from Clarke were Deb Zens, Office Manager, and Kurt Heeren, Production Foreman.

Clarke Machine manufactures and sells custom corn heads and row crop heads for combines.  Their featured product is a patented corn head for 15” wide corn rows.  Clarke gets all of their parts and decals from South Dakota suppliers, and their products are sold to dealers and brokers that ship nation and world-wide, including to countries such as Mexico, Canada, Ukraine and South America.  The company boasts more than 3000 individual products, and also sells custom poly kits and assembled pieces.

Dave Clarke bought the company from his parents in 1988 with the help of a cooperative loan from Farmers & Merchants State Bank in Carthage, SD, and First District Association of Local Governments, a voluntary association working for the benefit of East Central SD.  Clarke’s loan was the first of its kind awarded in Miner County.

Today, Clarke Machine employs twenty people full-time and three people part-time.  Dave has also expanded his facilities by 15,000 square feet since purchasing the company, and has plans to add another 10,000 square foot building soon.

“Dave Clarke not only knows how to run a specialty industry, he also knows how to treat his employees,” said Olson.  “This is evident by the eight different zip codes that his employees travel from to work for Clarke Machine in Howard, despite a $4.00/gallon cost of gas.”

Heartland Consumers Power District, www.hcpd.com, a non-profit public corporation headquartered in Madison, provides supplemental power to the City of Howard from a diversified mix of resources in the Midwest. The City of Howard then retails the power to its residents, businesses and industries.  The Heartland Growth Incentive Program, designed to help stimulate development within its Customer communities, makes cash available for immediate job growth and rewards qualifying companies with a rebate on the retail electric power bills for three years.  The cash incentive is subject to a wage or salary-equivalent requirement and each qualifying new employee must preside within a 10-mile radius of the Customer community.

Heartland Consumers Power District announced today that the financing for the Wessington Springs Wind Project has been completed and construction has begun on-site on the bluffs south of Wessington Springs, South Dakota.  Once completed, it will be among the top energy producers in the region.

The Wessington Springs Wind Project is comprised of 34 new GE 1.5 megawatt (MW) wind turbines with a total production capacity of 51 MW, enough to power approximately 15,000 homes per year.  Heartland signed a Renewable Energy Purchase Agreement with Babcock & Brown, a leading wind energy developer and operator, in April of 2007, committing to purchase the entire output of the project.  The project will supply renewable wind power to the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) transmission grid and be used as a network resource for Heartland Customers.

“We were looking for a premiere wind developer, and we found that in Babcock & Brown,” said Heartland’s General Manager, Mike McDowell.  “We expect the Wessington Springs Wind Project to come on line in late 2008, and when it does, it will be a tremendous energy producer for Heartland.  With its generation, renewable resources will account for 20% of our power supply.”

 Construction work on the project is being done by Wanzek Construction, based in Fargo, North Dakota.

“The start of construction at Wessington Springs Wind Project marks a major milestone in a development process that started from scratch three years ago,” said John Calaway, chief development officer for Babcock & Brown’s North American wind energy group. “We look forward to harnessing the wind of South Dakota to produce clean and renewable energy when Wessington Springs Wind Farm begins operating later this year.”

The project will also initially serve as the sole source of renewable power supplied to two state universities per a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that McDowell signed on behalf of Heartland with South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds in late May 2007.  Showing interest in promoting renewable energy, the State signed the MOU to declare that South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota will be 100% green above their WAPA allocation.

Heartland Consumers Power District is a public power utility created in 1969 by the State of South Dakota.  Based in Madison, Heartland provides low cost, reliable power as well as energy services and community development programs to communities and state agencies in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.  Heartland has a diverse resource portfolio that includes base-load coal and nuclear energy, hydropower, and community-based natural gas and diesel peaking units. 

Babcock & Brown (B&B) is an international investment and specialized fund and asset management group.  With nearly 20 years of experience in the wind energy sector, B&B currently operates 20 wind farms across nine states, with another 25 or more wind farms in various stages of development around the country.  The Company is also one of the top five wind energy developers and operators worldwide.

Heartland Consumers Power District is pleased to announce the addition of Ann Garry to the HCPD team.  Ann began her employment with Heartland in April as Director of Energy Programs.  A native of Hartford, South Dakota, Garry received a B.A. degree in Business Administration with a Marketing emphasis, and minors in CIS and Economics from Augustana College.  She is a former employee of the South Dakota Office of Tourism as a Film and Media Representative, and CommissionSoup of Madison as a Marketing Director.  While at Heartland, Ann will responsible for introducing, marketing and educating all of Heartland’s Customers on the company’s energy-saving programs.  She will also serve as the spokesperson for Heartland’s partnership in the South Dakota Energy Smart program.  Heartland welcomes Ann Garry.