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A company calling itself TMA Global Wind Energy Systems in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is offering a vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) model designed for sites with high winds -- ranging from 20 to 90 miles per hour. TMA is negotiating with utilities to sell the output of a four turbine, 500 kW facility on a ranch six miles west of Cheyenne, says the company's Dwayne Rasmussen. TMA also offered 20 MW in response to a Request For Proposals from Public Service Co of Colorado (story above). Energy from TMA's VAWT design is comparable to the price of energy from horizontal axis systems, he adds. TMA offers solar or diesel powered backup systems. The VAWTs are designed to take advantage of winds more conventional turbines do not use, says Rasmussen, referring to areas of high wind speeds such as those in Wyoming, in California, the tip of South Africa and in Russia. TMA's goal is not to compete with horizontal axis systems, but just to go where others cannot, says Rasmussen. "We're not willing to go into competition with prop generators," he says.