Black Hills Energy announced Wednesday that it will build a new, utility-scale wind project west of Cheyenne, near the Otto Road exit.

Company spokeswoman Laurie Farkas says the $57 million Corriedale wind project will provide 40-megawatts of energy for Renewable Ready subscribers -- businesses who use at least 300,000 kilowatts of energy -- in Wyoming and western South Dakota.

"This program, the green tariff, was actually developed because we had a number of large customers asking for renewables," said Farkas.

"Because we were unable to provide this previously they looked in other directions, so this is a really important offering," she added.

Farkas says it's too early to estimate how many construction jobs the project will create, but they expect to have the 16-turbine facility completed by next fall.

"We will try to use local contractors and local people wherever available and wherever we can," she said.

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