Wind Firm First Signee For Green Power

By Jessica Lowell
rep5@wyomingnews.com
Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

CHEYENNE - As it happens, the first customer to sign up for Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power's renewable energy program is a renewable energy company.
TMA Global Wind Energy Systems Chairman and founder Ron Taylor said he signed up the first the day he learned about it.
"It was absolutely appropriate that we step to the plate and support the programs we hope we will be a part of," Taylor said Thursday.
He called Cheyenne Light as soon as he had read about the program in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.
"I thought since we were calling so early, there was a chance we'd be the first," he said, "but if we weren't first, that was OK too."
The company has been working on developing a vertical-axis turbine for commercial and residential use.
The company, which is based in Cheyenne, has been working for about a decade to develop a turbine model that would be commercially viable. Company officials announced a breakthrough in design in November.
Any day now, that turbine is due to be interconnected with the Cheyenne Light electric distribution system, and that marks a big milestone for the company.
Cheyenne Light launched the renewable energy program earlier this summer to give customers - residential and business alike - the chance to support renewable energy projects.
Under the Renewable Premium Program, customers can subscribe to buy blocks of renewable energy credits. The money raised through those sales will be used to support current and future renewable energy projects.
Taylor said his company signed up for 20 blocks, or 2,000 kilowatt hours.
Randy Winkelman, director of customer service for Black Hills Corp.'s retail companies, said company officials anticipated customers would be interested.
Black Hills Corp. is the parent company of Cheyenne Light.
Company officials agreed to offer the program through an agreement with the Office of Consumer Advocate that was endorsed by the Wyoming Public Service Commission as part of Black Hills' request to raise rates to Cheyenne Light customers.
Rick Kaysen, vice president of regulatory affairs for Cheyenne Light, said a handful of residential customers also have signed up for the program.