“Learning ways to help nature and humans be healthy”
David A. Winkelman, Solar Project Developer in Greater Minnesota
David Winkelman is an independent solar project developer serving commercial businesses, industrial customers, installers, utilities, and property owners. In the last thirty years, David has developed over 300 projects in the energy industry through several companies, including Winkelman’s Environmentally Responsible Construction (WERC) , Small Wind Turbines, LLC (SWT), Innovative Power Systems (IPS Solar), Winkelman Building Corporation (WBC), Bradbury Stamm (which now owns WBC) and most recently Winkelman Solar Developers. These projects include solar, wind, battery storage and energy efficiency. David works with financing, pre-construction design and installation.
David is now a full-time independent solar PV and energy storage consultant assisting clients to develop, design, finance, manage, and operate solar PV + storage projects.
• 1976 helped build and install a small wind turbine (and batteries) on the Winkelman farm in MN
• 1973-1996 received a variety of training on solar PV, geothermal and wind turbines
• 1996 – 1998 designed and built the Eco-Domes® conservation campus near Brainerd MN
• 1996 - 2010 Co-designed and installed systems for Solar Photovoltaics, Solar Thermal, Geothermal, Wind Turbine, Greywater, Composting Toilets and Monitoring Systems at the Eco-Domes campus.
• 2002 through 2020, developed, designed and planned over 250 wind and solar projects
• 2010 Joined Innovative Power Systems, www.ips-solar.com
• 2013 Sold largest commercial solar installation to date in MN (Louis Industries).
• 2016 Working with Winkelman Building Company (WBC) David helped form the Winkelman Energy Group.
• 2016 to 2019, David developed over 10 megawatts of solar projects, with many still under construction in 2023.
• 2020, David formed Winkelman Solar Developers.
David now lives in a model solar sustainable retirement home on the prairie near Brainerd with his wife Michelle. They have one daughter, Natalie Spiczka, and one grand-daughter, Zoey, whose daddy, Greg Spiczka is a master electrician working on solar.
Activist
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Environmentalist
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Sustainability expert