Juhl Wind and Suzlon Sell 20 MW Community Wind Project

WOODSTOCK, Minn., March 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Juhl Wind Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: JUHL), the Leader in Community Wind Power, today announced that Juhl Wind along with its development partner, Suzlon Wind Energy Corp., the North American subsidiary of Suzlon Energy Limited (SEL) have successfully completed the sale of a community based 20-megawatt wind power project. The Grant County Wind Farm in southwestern Minnesota consists of 10 Suzlon S88 – 2.1 MW wind turbines and at full capacity produces 20 megawatts of energy, enough electricity to power 7,000 homes in the area.

The wind power plant purchaser, Olympus Power LLC located in Morristown, New Jersey, acquired the project which is featured as a Community-Based Energy Development (C-BED) project and is owned in partnership with local farmers. C-BED is an initiative in Minnesota that fosters the development of renewable energy by optimizing local and regional agricultural and economic resources. This often allows for interconnection of smaller renewable energy systems to the larger power grid and cost-sharing, creating a stable market for renewable energy.

"Once again, we are happy to partner with Suzlon and Minnesota farmers on wind energy development, and expanding to Grant County," said Dan Juhl, CEO of Juhl Wind, which was Suzlon's first customer in the U.S. "Community wind farms help farmers diversify their revenue streams while producing renewable energy for the local area. We have worked with Suzlon for several years now and have been pleased with the partnership in bringing Suzlon machines to Minnesota communities desiring a sustainable power supply."

"We're excited to be a part of this community-run project to help generate clean wind power and revenue for farmers and towns in the region," said Andris Cukurs, CEO of Suzlon Wind Energy Corp. "Our workhorse machine, the S88 wind turbine, has routinely delivered over 98% availability across the U.S. and this site is no different. So we're confident Suzlon is turning over a high-quality, strong-running facility to Olympus Power and the people of Southwest Minnesota."

"We could not be more pleased with this project as our first investment in the wind generation sector," added Dean Vanech, Chairman of Olympus Power. "The purchase of this asset is consistent with our goals to acquire and build clean energy projects, and the capability and commitment of Suzlon and Juhl is evident in the high quality of this project."

The project is interconnected with Otter Tail Power Company, and the Northern States Power (NSP) subsidiary of Xcel Energy is purchasing the clean energy under terms of a 20 year power purchase agreement. The Grant County Wind Farm will join other renewable energy projects on the Otter Tail grid, while NSP, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy - a leading electric utility company - will offer the electricity to its service territory spread across the northern states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The Grant County Wind Farm has been operational since March 2010 and has performed extremely well with total wind farm availability numbers exceeding 98 percent.

About the transaction partnerships:

Throughout this transaction, Marathon Capital of Bannockburn, Ill., acted as financial advisor to Grant County Wind LLC, and Grant County Wind, LLC was advised by Chicago based Synergy Law Group.  Furthermore, Olympus Power LLC was advised by Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP, and Suzlon was advised by Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP during the discussions. 

About Juhl Wind Inc.

Juhl Wind is an established leader in Community Based Wind Power development and management, focused on wind farm projects throughout the United States and Canada.  Juhl Wind pioneered community-based wind farms, developing the currently accepted financial, operational and legal structure providing local ownership of medium-to-large scale wind farms.  To date, the Company has developed 16 wind farm projects and provides operations management and oversight across the portfolio. Juhl Wind services every aspect of wind farm development from full development and ownership, general consultation, construction and system operations and maintenance.  With its acquisition of Next Generation Power Systems, Juhl Wind now provides full sales and service to smaller, on-site wind and solar projects in addition to our larger Community Wind Farms.  Juhl Wind is based in Woodstock, Minnesota and is traded on the OTCBB under the symbol "JUHL".  Additional information is available at the Company's website at www.juhlwind.com or by calling 877-584-5946 (or 877-JUHLWIN).  

About Olympus Power, LLC

Olympus Power, LLC, is a U.S. independent power company headquartered in Morristown NJ.  It is wholly owned by Olympus Holdings, LLC, a privately held company through its various subsidiaries engaged in energy, entertainment and finance.

Please visit www.olympuspower.com

About Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation

Suzlon Wind Energy Corporation focuses on the North American market and is a subsidiary of Suzlon Energy Limited, India. The headquarters for North America is based in Chicago, Illinois. Sales and service offices are located throughout the U.S.

About Suzlon Group

Suzlon Group ranked as the world's third* leading wind turbine supplier in terms of market share in 2009. Suzlon has its corporate headquarters – Suzlon One Earth – in Pune, India. The company's global spread reflects in its projects and markets portfolio – extending across Asia, Australia, Europe, South Africa and North and South America. Suzlon is a highly vertically integrated wind turbine manufacturer with manufacturing capability along the full value chain – from components to complete wind turbine systems. The Group has installed over 15,000 MW of wind energy capacity in 25 countries, established operations across 32 countries, with a workforce of over 13,000 personnel.

Suzlon was recognized with the Gigaton Award for global leadership in emissions control and sustainability practices in the energy at the COP16 summit in Cancun, Mexico. Suzlon was also ranked as a prestigious 'Business Superbrand' ranking in 2010 for the second time.

Suzlon has a share of over 90 per cent in REpower, and taken together, has a combined market share of 9.8 per cent*.

* Derived from BTM Consult ApS World Market Update 2009, ranking Suzlon with 6.4 per cent of global market share and REpower with 3.4 per cent of global market share

Please visit www.suzlon.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements that reflect Juhl Wind's current expectations about its future results, performance, prospects and opportunities. Juhl Wind has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words and phrases such as "may," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "plan," "should," "typical," "preliminary," "hope," or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Juhl Wind and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause Juhl Wind's actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities in the remainder of 2011 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risks include the actual outcome and profits or losses derived from the projects listed herein.  These risks are referenced in Juhl Wind's current 10K or as may be described from time to time in Juhl Wind's subsequent SEC filings; and such factors as incorporated by reference.

SOURCE Juhl Wind, Inc.