Juhl Wind (JUHL) secures additional financing, continues construction of wind farm

Juhl Wind (OTCBB: JUHL) announced after the close of trade Monday that the Company has completed the securing of construction and term debt financing, as well as reporting on ongoing construction of the Valley View Wind Farm, which is located near the Juhl Wind’s headquarters in Southwestern Minnesota. The Company was successful in arranging construction financing along with the term loan on behalf of the Valley View LLC. Juhl Wind has been serving as the developer and construction manager on the project, which will utilize 5 Gamesa G87 wind turbines, and is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2011.

Commenting on the recent events, Dan Juhl, CEO of Juhl Wind, Inc., stated, “We are pleased with our ongoing progress on the Valley View Wind Farm. As we have stated in other project announcements, our ability to move projects forward in the face of a difficult market for project financing, is a testament to our credibility and to the success of our underlying business structure for these projects.”

In early 2009, Juhl Wind first announced the Valley View Wind Farm, with construction beginning in October 2010. Along the same lines as numerous other Juhl projects, the Valley View system will sell the clean wind energy to Xcel Energy under the terms of a 20 year, 10 MW Power Purchase Agreement. The wind farm incorporates one of Juhl Wind’s “Community Wind” structures in which ownership is shared with the local residents and farmers who own the land upon which the project is located.

Although Juhl has successfully arranged the construction and term loan framework for the project, the Company is in the still in the process of raising the remaining $5.1 million of equity required.

Mr. Juhl continued, “We are making rapid progress on this project and look forward to completing construction, successfully commissioning the facility and rounding out the remaining financing. Given the fact that the term loan mechanism is in place and that the project provides solid returns to equity investors, we are confident we will complete the equity raise this Spring. We have several equity investors evaluating the project for their portfolio.”

Juhl Wind, Inc. President John Mitola added, “Our ongoing progress on Valley View comes on the heels of our recent announcements of the completion of our Adams and Danielson wind project, as we have explained to the market, Valley View is another important element of the handful of wind farms we have been able to build almost simultaneously. Combined with our recently announced completion of Grant County, Adams and Danielson wind farms, these four projects represent just over $140 million in project work we have been able to execute in the past year or so – which cumulatively have a significant impact to our bottom line financial results in 2011.”