Renewable Energy

Touchstone Energy^® Cooperatives are working together and with others to bring "renewable energy" to their members, communities and the Northern Plains. These cooperatives helped to develop the first commercial wind turbines and the first wind farms in South Dakota and North Dakota. The program is being expanded to generate electricity from waste products such as manure, as cooperatives continue to look for cost-effective, environmentally friendly projects that promote the rural economy.

Through our Renewable Energy program, nearly 35 percent of the electricity that electric cooperatives in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota delivered to their members comes from environmentally friendly generators. Of the power supply Basin Electric Cooperative delivers to its member cooperatives, approximately 8 percent currently comes from wind turbines. In addition, 30 percent of our power supply is clean, renewable hydropower from the Missouri River.