MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Greg Jaunich, a pioneer of Minnesota's wind-energy industry, has been charged by federal authorities for allegedly defrauding Xcel Energy and the state of Minnesota by overstating the amount of power being produced by wind generators he operated.

The overstatements in 2003 and 2004 amounted to about $388,000 in overcharges to Xcel, according to an affidavit in the case.

Jaunich's attorney, Jon Hopeman, told the Star Tribune that his client vehemently denies the charges and is going to fight hard to defend himself.

"The last thing Jaunich would want to do is defraud Xcel or the state or anyone else, and he is very disappointed that what he thought should be an administrative and business issue between the power company and him three years ago should somehow morph into a federal indictment."

Jaunich founded Northern Alternative Energy in 1992. The cost of generating electricity from wind had dropped significantly because of advanced technology, and utilities were looking for additional power.

In 1994, the Minnesota Legislature required that Xcel Energy - then Northern States Power Co. - build or purchase several megawatts of wind-generated power as part of a compromise that allowed additional storage of radioactive waste at the Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing.

The amount of wind power generated in the state grew from 25 megawatts in 1994 to nearly 900 megawatts by mid-2007, making Minnesota the fourth-largest producer in the country. Jaunich's family-owned company has been an active developer of some of those wind farms for utilities and other interests that own or buy power from what are now hundreds of investor- and community-owned turbines in blustery southwestern Minnesota.

But according to a 2005 search warrant and affidavit filed in connection with this week's indictment, Jaunich inflated the electricity generated by a project he developed and managed in Shaokatan Township in Lincoln County called NAE Shaokatan Power Partners.

Jaunich started to produce power from turbines on the site and allegedly billed the Minnesota Commerce Department, which pays a per-kilowatt-hour incentive payment, for $176,136 in 2003 and 2004, even though NAE Shaokatan only was owed about $35,000, according to the affidavit.

A wind turbine investor in the area alerted the Commerce Department to the disparity, according to the charges. And a former service technician for Jaunich's company told state regulators that the Shaokatan Power production monthly figures had been inflated.

Jaunich has an initial federal court hearing on Oct. 3.