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.

Heartland Consumers Power District is pleased to announce the addition of Adam Graff to the HCPD team.  Adam began his employment with Heartland in February as a Senior Electrical Engineer.  A native of Humboldt, South Dakota, Graff received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota State University.  He is a former employee of Cannon Technologies in Sioux City, Iowa.  His specific fields of interest include alternative energy technology and energy efficiency. While at Heartland, he will be primarily responsible for the design and implementation of Energy Efficiency and Demand-Side Management programs for Heartland Customers.  Heartland welcomes Adam Graff.