 Wind turbines are not a surprise or novelty to Mark Kuhn, State Representative of District 14 in Iowa. Nearly everywhere you look from his family farm near Charles City, IA you see giant megawatt wind turbines farming the wind in the distance.
For the past 34 years, he has shared duties of managing and operating the family’s 770 acre grain farm. And since 1998, Mark has been serving in the Iowa House of Representatives, where he is a member of the Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Public Safety committees, as well as the chair of the Agriculture & Natural Resources budget subcommittee. Mark also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Appropriations Committee. He was awarded "Legislator of the Year" in 2002 by the Izaak Walton League in 2002, and has received the "Friend of the Family Farmer" award three times from the Iowa Farmers Union. He is also a member of the Charles City Area Chamber of Commerce, serves on the Board of Directors of the American Corn Growers Association.
Mark wanted to make his own statement on environmental stewardship and reduce his energy consumption costs over the grid. So he decided to have his own wind powered generator on the family farm. WERC provided a favorable site plan and installed a Nex Gen 12.50 - 35 kilowatt wind turbine system on a 50 foot monopole on the premises. The turbine is estimated to be able to produce over 51,000 kilowatt hours per year at his location.
Mark also applied for (through WERC) and was successful in being awarded a USDA grant of $25,762.
The purpose of the USDA Grant program is to help farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses reduce energy costs and consumption to help the nation meet its energy needs.
To find out if your address is eligible - go to http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do |
