CEO of NuLife Energy to Speak at Screening of USU's Wind Energy Documentary

Tracy Livingston, NuLife Energy CEO and founder and chairman of Wasatch Wind, will speak at Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business following a special screening of Wind Uprising, Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 12:30 p.m. in Huntsman Hall, room 130. 

Wind Uprising is an award-winning documentary about the four-year struggle to establish the Spanish Fork Wind Project. The documentary was written and produced by Huntsman School marketing professor Edwin Stafford and former Huntsman professor Cathy Hartman. The screening will be held in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Spanish Fork Wind Project’s opening.

The documentary chronicles the journey to develop Utah’s first commercial wind energy project. It follows Livingston through the process of overcoming obstacles to the venture, such as policy and regulatory changes, securing investment, energy transmission issues and strong “not in my backyard” resistance from the local community that nearly derailed the project. 

“Tracy Livingston’s Spanish Fork project opened the door for renewable energy development in Utah,” said Stafford. “The documentary has become something of a how-to guide for other renewable energy developers seeking to work with local communities and policymakers to create cleaner, more sustainable energy solutions.” 

Stafford and then-colleague Hartman began researching the marketing of renewable energy and clean technology in 1995, and they started working on ways to build Utah support for wind energy in 2002.  They decided to make the film about the evolving Spanish Fork Wind Project in 2007 to document Livingston’s journey and create an educational resource about wind energy. Released in 2010, Wind Uprising was directed by Michelle Nunez of GreenTech Films, funded by the Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development Project, and supported by Sen. Bob Bennett and the Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America Program.

Wind Uprising received the Seven Summits Award in the environmental film category at the Mountain Film Festival in Mammoth, California and the Silver Sierra Award at the Yosemite Film Festival. 

About Tracy Livingston

Tracy Livingston has been a serial entrepreneur for the last 24 years. He is the current CEO of NuLife Energy, an energy storage startup repurposing 2nd life lithium batteries from electric vehicles. He is the founder, former CEO and present chairman of Wasatch Wind, Inc., a large-scale wind energy development company. He was also the founder and CEO of technology energy company Wind Tower Systems, which was sold to General Electric in 2011. Prior to that he developed the Spanish Fork Wind Energy Center. To complete the project, Livingston used personal funds and a small staff to achieve approval of prerequisite renewable legislative and regulatory changes in Utah, including legislative laws, utility commission mandates, property taxation methods and a very difficult legacy pricing structure. Further, in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition, his diplomacy and experience in local outreach convinced local citizens to become overwhelmingly supportive, creating a proud success for Spanish Fork City, host of the western United States’ only urban wind project and the impetus for the award-winning documentary, Wind Uprising. Livingston is active with regional and international government agencies and has participated on energy policy committees in Utah and Wyoming including governors’ councils. Livingston completed studies and advised the Tongan government and power company on the economic feasibility of a wind farm on Tongatapu.  

As an active member of venture capital company Utah Angels, Livingston has provided capital and assisted as a board or CEO executive to more than 15 startups. His bachelor’s in aerospace and mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee launched a career in the engineering of jet engines, rocket systems and flight simulators prior to his entrepreneurial career.