Larry Tjaden of Tjaden Farms spoke with Wind Powering 

America by telephone from his home in Charles City, Iowa. The 

Tjadens started with a simple idea: commission a wind turbine on 

their farmland. The family members had an unpredictable—and 

rewarding—journey ahead.

Tjaden Farms meets every defi nition of a family farm. The 

Tjaden brothers, Larry and Dean, and Larry’s son, Scott, farm 

together just 12 miles north of Charles City, Iowa. Like many 

American farmers, the Tjadens want to continue to farm and 

improve their operation. But about 5 years ago, the Tjadens 

realized that they would need to diversify rather than rely on 

commodity grain farming as a primary source of revenue.

The Tjadens added a hog operation, which increased their 

electricity bill by $600 per month. With electricity prices on 

the rise and a conviction that they would continue to rise, 

Larry decided to investigate a wind turbine to help with the 

electricity costs and further diversify the farm’s assets. 

Larry and Scott began with a wind resource assessment study, 

which indicated that their wind resource was good enough 

for a turbine to make economic sense. Then they explored 

fi nancing. The available state and federal fi nancial programs 

made wind energy even more attractive. 

The Tjadens secured a loan from their local bank, along with 

a 0% interest loan from the Iowa Energy Center for 50% of the 

project costs. At the Iowa Energy Center, the Tjadens learned 

about the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

Renewable Energy Grant program under Section 9006 of the 

2002 Farm Bill. Section 9006 encourages rural renewable energy 

projects through grants of $2,500-$500,000 or up to 25% of the 

eligible project costs. The Tjadens decided to apply when the 

applications became available.

With initial fi nancing in place, the Tjadens started looking at 

small turbines. Then Scott realized the greater effi ciency of the 

bigger turbines. In Scott’s mind, the ideal turbine climbed from 

65 kilowatts (kW) to 100 kW to 225 kW. 

Finally, Scott called Larry one day and said, “Dad, I just found 

a used 450-kW Bonus on the Internet!” 

The Bonus 450 had been installed in 1992 between Los Angeles 

and Palm Springs, California, along with 2,000 other wind 

turbines. But the turbine was taken down in 2002 because it 

altered wind fl ow for a larger turbine installed nearby. Dean 

and Scott fl ew to Palm Springs for an inspection. The Bonus 

450 was exactly what they wanted. 

The next question was how to get 125,000 pounds of steel and 

fi berglass halfway across the country. The Bonus 450 tower is a 

single 100-foot piece that weighs 50,000 pounds and has a 12-ft 

The Bonus 450-kW turbine, newly installed and in operation on a cloudless day 

in January 2005. 

diameter at the bottom. How would the Tjadens coordinate the 

transportation details while still running their farm? The family 

decided to contract with Heavy Transport, a company that 

specializes in moving wind turbines. Larry calls this a “wise 

decision.” Even though it cost the family $30,000, the doorto-door delivery of the turbine saved them a lot of time and 

logistical headaches.

Meanwhile, the USDA had published its 2004 Notice of 

Funding Availability for grants under Section 9006. The Iowa 

Energy Center referred the Tjadens to Norm Bruce, a Business 

and Corporation Specialist with USDA’s Rural Development in 

Waverly.

The USDA grant forms and documentation soon piled up and 

demanded many hours of the Tjadens’ time to complete. Norm 

combed through the application, helping the family collect the 

appropriate documentation for each line-item detail. 

Why did the Tjadens go to so much trouble, even though they 

knew that the project would work on its own merit? Larry said 

that they knew the grant would “make the project fl y.” And in 

the end, the hard work paid off. 

Tjaden Farms/ PIX13764

Can a Family Farm Benefi t from Section 9006?
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“Scott’s application was the only wind turbine approved in Iowa. 

Norm’s line-by-line attention probably made the difference,” 

Larry said. “We got the $45,540 grant we requested.”

Larry estimates that, assuming $2,500 in annual maintenance 

and 800,000 kWh of energy production, the project payback will 

be 6 1⁄2 years. That includes the loans and grant, together with 

the 1.8-cent production tax credit and a 1.5-cent Iowa tax credit 

that should be official soon. The turbine is not net metered, 

so all the electricity it produces goes to the grid. The payback 

calculation also takes into account an agreement to sell the 

turbine’s electricity to Dairyland Power Cooperative (DPC) of 

La Crosse, Wisconsin. DPC sells energy to the local cooperatives. 

The contract with DPC will be renegotiated in 3 years, and the 

Tjadens may have a chance to sell their green tags.

“The turbine was big enough that we needed a three-phase 

connection, not just a single phase. We had another farm on a hill 

with a three-phase connection near it, so we decided to locate it 

there,” Larry said.

To take advantage of the three-phase connection, the Tjadens 

had to give up the ability to net meter. Turbines can only be net 

metered if they are near the farm facilities; if they are too far 

away, the turbine is considered a commercial endeavor.

“It would have been nice to net meter—that’s the key for most of 

these projects,” Larry said. “But we just couldn’t justify the extra 

cost of installing three-phase equipment at this time.”

The one issue that caught the Tjadens off guard was insurance. 

Again, if the wind turbine were located near farm facilities, the 

regular farm policy would cover the turbine. However, once the 

turbine was moved to a remote location to take advantage of the 

three-phase connection, the project was deemed a commercial 

endeavor. 

The Tjadens scrambled to find a $1 million insurance policy.

“DPC wouldn’t interconnect us without insurance, but we had 

a heck of a time finding someone who was willing to insure 

one turbine out in the middle of nowhere. These companies are 

used to insuring multiple turbines,” Larry said. The family’s 

local insurance broker tracked down Aggressive Insurance, a 

company willing to provide the $1 million policy for $2,172 per 

year.

The physical construction/commissioning was on schedule and 

yielded no surprises. 

“We came out within 4% of budget, to Scott’s credit. He 

researched everything and knew exactly where we were at all 

times,” Larry said. 

Once the turbine was safely installed and commissioned, the 

Tjadens wanted to see their turbine in operation. However, the 

wind didn’t cooperate.

“We were eager to see it run, but it was dead still. We finally 

went home, and around nighttime the wind picked up. My 

daughter-in-law came by and said, ‘Did you see it? That wind 

turbine of yours is running!’ I had to drive over there and just 

sit and listen to it for a while,” Larry said. “We took a thing 

that’s pretty much worthless—the wind—and created something 

out of it.” 

The turbine project was a long journey that required a lot of time 

and effort. But Larry thinks it was worth it.

“The project really has been a neat family project for our farm. 

It was just a fun, exciting project,” he said. “Maybe, if this thing 

keeps working like it has been...well, maybe 3 or 4 years down 

the line, we’ll be able to add another turbine. After all, we have 

three potential sites and plenty of high points—ample space to 

add another turbine.” 

For more information about the Tjaden family’s wind turbine, 

please contact:

Mr. Larry Tjaden

Tjaden Farms Inc.

3223 130th St.

Charles City, IA 50616

Phone: (641) 228-4446

E-mail: larrye@fiai.net

For more information about Section 9006 of the 2002 U.S. Farm 

Bill and how you can apply, please visit:

www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/farmbill

In July 2004, the excavation for the turbine foundation began. 

Tjaden Farms/PIX13746

May 2005 • DOE/GO-102005-2124