Breeze brings bucks in Raymondville, Willacy County

RAYMONDVILLE, WILLACY COUNTY – E.ON Climate & Renewables plans to build about 116 turbines along FM 186 between San Perlita and Raymondville as part of phase two of Magic Valley Wind Farm.

The project will create between 125 and 200 construction jobs during an eight-month period and eight to 15 permanent jobs, said Catalina Ozuna, executive director of the Raymondville Economic Development Corp.

San Perlita ISD will get much of the project’s tax revenue, taxing the turbines at 70 percent of their taxable value, said Agustin Lopez, chief appraiser of the Willacy Appraisal District. Raymondville school district will tax the wind turbines at 30 percent of their taxable value.

Willacy County will generate about $210,000 in yearly tax revenue along with about $260,000 in annual payments in lieu of taxes during a ten-year period.

Willacy County Commissioners gave E.ON an 85 percent tax break as part of an agreement in which the developer will pay the county about $200,000 a year in payment in lieu of taxes. E.ON will also pay the county $1,125 for each megawatt that the wind farm generates, or about $258,000 a year.

So far, E.ON has built 112 wind turbines in an area that stretches from Lyford toward San Perlita as part of the first phase of Magic Valley Wind Farm.

In Lyford, the county’s two wind farms more than tripled the school district’s property tax collection in 2013, when the district generated about $10 million through its taxation of more than 200 turbines within its 356-square-mile boundaries.

In Starr County, Duke Energy is building 247 wind turbines in an area off FM 490 near Pipeline Rd., about 20 miles northeast of Rio Grande City.

In Los Fresnos, Apex Clean Energy plans to build 80 wind turbines along FM 1847 between FM 510 and the Arroyo Colorado.