During 2020, your local Touchstone Energy® Cooperative celebrated an exciting milestone: over 40% of our power generation came from renewable sources, including over 25% from wind energy.

We are committed to the future of carbon-free renewable energy, continuing to add new sources of reliable power while still providing some of the most stable rates in the area.

Your local Touchstone Energy® Cooperative is partnering with Basin Electric Power Cooperative to bring more solar projects to the region in the coming years. Two projects in western South Dakota, Wild Springs Solar Project and West River Solar Project, are slated to begin power generation in late 2022.

The Wild Springs Solar Project is made possible by a partnership with Geronimo Energy, a National Grid company, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, and your local Touchstone Energy® Cooperative. Once up and running, Wild Springs will be the largest solar project in South Dakota. It will span nearly 1,500 acres of privately-owned land and include approximately 340,000 solar panels capable of generating 128 megawatts (MW). It’s estimated that Wild Springs will offset carbon dioxide emissions by 190,000 metric tons annually.

A second solar project, the West River Solar Project, has been created out of a partnership with Basin Electric Power Cooperative and West River Solar. Upon completion, the project will consist of two 10-MW projects near the Rapid City airport in South Dakota.

These solar energy projects will benefit not only the Touchstone Energy® Cooperative members, but local communities as well, as they will create renewable energy, job opportunities and economic growth.

You can use up to 100% carbon-free renewable energy to power your home or business when you enroll in the Renewable Energy Credits (REC) program. These certificates transfer the “renewable” aspects of carbon-free renewable energy to the enrolled member-owner. In other words, RECs represent the valuable renewable attributes of wind and solar energy. One megawatt-hour produced by a carbon-free renewable energy source equals one REC.

RECs come from the local wind and solar farms that provide energy to your local Touchstone Energy® Cooperative. A few of these include Crow Lake Wind, The Chamberlain Turbines, Day County Wind Farm, and the South Dakota Wind Project.

When you enroll in the REC program, you’ll still receive the same reliable and affordable energy, and no specialized equipment is needed. You will continue to be billed based on the kilowatt-hours used each month. The charge will appear on your regular monthly statement. It’s a great way to add value to your products and services and showcase your support for carbon-free renewable energy.

Ask us for more information about the Renewable Energy Credit program and how to enroll.

America’s electric grid is often called the most complex machine in the world.

For all its complexity, the electric grid can be described in three major parts: a power source (like a natural gas plant or wind turbine); the wires and equipment that deliver power; and a home or business that receives the power.

To understand the grid more deeply, here are four ways it’s adapting to the world’s new realities.