The Windustry Board of Directors is pleased to announce the inauguration and the first recipient of the Distinguished Service in Community Wind Award. This award is given annually to a person who has made an exceptionally significant contribution to the establishment and growth of Community Wind as a uniquely valuable form of clean, renewable energy.

Dan Turner, Windustry; Tom Wind, Wind Utility Consulting; Lisa Daniels, Windustry

The recipient of this award possesses outstanding dedication, excellence or achievement and has worked over many years to further the goals of community wind and distributed renewable energy. "This person is an exemplary professional and a mentor for others." Lisa Daniels, Windustry, Executive Director stated, "This person is regarded as a creative leader in his/her professional field and embodies methods of practice and aspects of being that we aspire to ourselves."

This first recipient of the Community Wind Distinguished Service Award is: Thomas A. Wind, PE of Wind Utility Consulting, PC based in Jamaica, Iowa. 

Mr. Wind was chosen for his years of pioneering work in the field, for his creative and practical clear-sighted leadership, for his willingness to share, and to put in many unpaid hours of effort in mentoring and also in supporting both particular Community Wind projects and the Community Wind industry. Tom's work is varied and spans a huge range from feasibility analysis with Glen Canon, in Waverly Iowa in the 1990's to put up the first municipal owned wind turbine, to leading many technical studies of the distribution grid, to the work with many many groups of rural citizens and farmers to put wind projects in the ground. In presenting the award, Ms. Daniels stated, "Through sharing his expertise as an electrical engineer with extensive utility experience, Mr. Wind has helped communities across the country make wise decisions about wind projects."

Many thanks to peer group: Dan Turner, Windustry; Sue Jones, Community Energy Partners; Larry Flowers, AWEA; Lisa Daniels, Windustry, along with the Windustry Board of Directors for helping to establish the criteria and awardees for this award.