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Published January 26, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," July 28, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
ALEXIS GLICK, GUEST HOST: Well, keeping it in the sky, my next guest making big money off of it. He is not flying. He is farming.
Dan Juhl is the CEO of Juhl Wind. And he is turning wind into one big cash crop. Dan is here to explain it all.
• Video: Watch Alexis Glick's interview
Good afternoon, Dan. Thanks for joining us.
DAN JUHL, CEO, JUHL WIND: You bet. Thank you.
GLICK: So, the concept here, let's talk about this, in terms of wind farms. What are you doing that is different in terms of allowing farmers to get involved in the profits?
JUHL: Well, we do community-based wind. Most of the big wind farms that are going into the ground these days are owned by large multinationals.
And, at Juhl Wind, we help farmers and small-business people that live in the communities become economically involved in the ownership structure of the projects. And then we also use local contractors. And, so, we do everything around the community to ensure ownership for the communities.
GLICK: So, give me an example. Let's just say a farmer owns, I don't know, 1,000 acres, and you say, you know what, this is a great place in the Midwest to put some of these — this wind technology. How do you structure the deal with that local farmer?
JUHL: Well, we have several — a couple of models that we have developed.
One is just called the flip structure model, where we partner the farmers up with an equity partner that can utilize the federal production tax credits. And we bring them in, in a partnership mode. And they are with the partners. The equity players are with the partner, the farmers, for about 10 years. And then, after that, after they have reached rate of return, they flip out.
The other model that we have used is basically putting together large groups of farmers and small-business people. In one case, we have a wind farm that is about a 12 megawatt farm that we have done, and it has about 250 farmers.
GLICK: You know, I would imagine that the technology has changed a lot, and you have been a pioneer in this wind technology. But I am sure T. Boone Pickens is helping the cause. What do you make of Pickens' plan?
JUHL: Well, any time you have somebody like Mr. Pickens, that has the depth of knowledge of fossil fuels in that industry, saying that we can't drill our way out of this mess, we all have to take heed to that.
And I think that he is right, that we have to develop all of the domestic resources that we can find. And wind and solar are a major role in that. And I know he is talking about using natural gas for cars and for transportation. And I am not totally sure if that is — if we want to substitute one fossil fuel for another.
GLICK: Right.
JUHL: But the idea of using cleaner fuel is a very good idea.
GLICK: All right, Dan Juhl, we will leave it there. I want to thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate it.
JUHL: You bet. Thank you.
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