MADISON – East River Electric Power Cooperative and Heartland Consumers Power District are renovating and building new headquarters buildings in Madison, but the people working in the facilities will affect projects for customers in the Sioux Falls area.

Heartland CEO and General Manager Mike McDowell said the company has asked customers to invest in energy-efficient technologies and to examine operations to see where they could use energy more efficiently.

“We felt that Heartland must set an example by making these investments of money and time ourselves,” he said.

Heartland plans to add three positions in the next two to three years to help with programs in the Sioux Falls area and to help other customers in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

Jim Edwards, East River’s assistant general manager of operations, said 11 new facilities will be built in the Sioux Falls area during the next five to eight years.

“There has been an 8 percent load growth each year over the last five years in the Sioux Falls area,” Edwards said. “With our expanded work force and new building, it allows us to respond efficiently to our members’ needs. New building projects in Madison help our operations in other parts of our service area.”

Construction will start this spring on a two-story addition on the south side of East River’s headquarters. The 16,800-square-foot project will be completed later this year. In addition, the existing building will be renovated in 2011.

The renovation and construction are part of the third and final project in a partnership between the cooperative and RSArchitects Inc.

Jeri Breck of RSArchitects said the East River project is special because it is the first one for the co-op that will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified.

“All the other projects had energy-saving systems, such as geothermal, but this will be the first to seek certification,” Breck said.

To be LEED certified, sustainable design strategies must be implemented, including the use of recycled materials and conservation of natural resources.

East River’s $5.4 million project allows the co-op to add people to assist with expansion projects for members throughout the service area in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. The projects include building distribution substations, expanding high-voltage substations, and upgrading and building transmission lines to handle load growth.

The new Heartland headquarters opened in the Lakeview Industrial Park on the southeast side of Madison. The $3.2 million, 9,400-square-foot building sits on 4.5 acres. The property has a prairie pothole that will be filled by water runoff from the building’s roof and parking lot, and used to provide irrigation for native South Dakota landscaping.

A portion of energy will be provided by a solar photovoltaic array on the roof, as well as a block of green power slated to be purchased from the city of Madison from production of the Wessington Springs Wind Project.

Heartland will be the first LEED platinum certified new building in South Dakota and one of only a handful in the five-state region, according to Jeff Hazard, CEO and senior principal at Koch Hazard Architects. It not only meets platinum criteria but also is designed to teach energy efficiency and other green principles to Heartland customers, he said.

Heartland provides power and energy to the central core of Sioux Falls, which includes a city-owned utility, public utilities, public schools, and water and sewer companies.

“This is the building standard that will set an example of what can be done now with existing technology to use energy more efficiently, lower carbon emissions and build these savings in the economy permanently,” McDowell said. “Heartland has staked out a position of leadership in going down this path. Madison will be known as the base for leadership in this area.”