Dan Juhl aimed his laptop out the window from the Juhl Wind headquarters building in Woodstock to show the people on the other end of his video conference the wind turbines on the landscape.
One of those people was retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who became a member of the board in January of this year of the publicly-traded Juhl Wind, Inc.— the same man who sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, only to lose to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.
That was a newcomers first sign that things might not be what they seem in the humble Woodstock building with the small company sign sharing the rolling prairie with grazing cattle beneath the towering wind turbines.
Turns out, Juhl Wind, Inc. is like the rock star of community wind development and its front man, Dan, is founder, chairman and CEO. His back-up, among others, include his two sons, Tyler and Corey, both vice presidents of project development. The company provides development, management and consulting services to community wind farm projects throughout the Midwest and has basically put the concept of community wind on the map and into state laws.
Juhl describes himself as “stubborn as hell,” perhaps a necessary quality to have when wrenching from corporate wind developers a piece of the wind action for local communities. A bit of this self-described temperament comes off in the story of the construction of his Woodstock headquarters in 1999. Back then, the utility wanted $8,000 for grid connection. Instead, Juhl flashed his independent brand of nonviolent protest by going off grid with a small wind generator and solar panels. Solar tubes — insulated skylights — allow natural light to warm the workshop/garage, and a 350-gallon capacity rain-catching system feeds the plumbing system.
Cost to construct the completely off-the-grid building? $7,500. Cost of being able to tell the utility where the wind blew? Priceless, as they say.
To read the rest of the story, see the June 4 edition of the Pipestone County Star.
