New wind farm in Texas with Vestas’ wind turbines

Construction began in mid-November on a site east of Raymondville, where 112 Vestas V100 1.8-megawatt wind turbines will be installed by the end of 2012, E.ON spokesman Matthew Tulis said.

The wind energy project is separate from the Duke Energy wind farm, which will have 171 wind turbines and the wind power project also has a completion date of late 2012.

Blattner Energy Inc. is the contractor handling E.ON’s “Magic Valley” wind power project, Tulis said, adding that the wind energy project is not affiliated with the Magic Valley Electric Cooperative, based in Mercedes.

The wind turbines will be 262.5 feet high, Tulis said, with blades that are 328 feet in diameter, making the total height about 426½ feet from base to blade tip. The wind turbines will provide employment, especially during the construction phases, he said,

“To date we have hired 86 people from Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron counties,” Tulis said. “So far we have spent $350,000 on equipment repair, lumber and other costs.”

Willacy County Judge John F. Gonzales Jr. said county officials and E.ON officials have been questioning whether Blattner will abide with the agreement E.ON made with the county to hire local people first, workers from the Valley second and workers from outside the area third.

“To (Blattner), the state of Texas is considered local,” he said. Workers who come to Willacy County will be housed at local hotels and eat at local restaurants, Tulis said.

Three Rio Grande Valley contractors are working on the wind power project, Tulis said. CEMEX, a local concrete company; Circle R Electric from Willacy County; and Jedi Pumping from Willacy County are involved in work on the project, he said.

Vestas, a company based in Denmark that builds the wind turbines being used for the E.ON project, has opened a manufacturing facility in Colorado, Tulis said. Wind turbines to be used in Willacy County are expected to arrive by the middle of the year, he said.

Although Willacy County was chosen as a site for wind turbines because of its extremely strong winds, there are times when wind speeds will be too strong and wind turbines will be shut down to avoid damaging the machinery, he said.

Gonzales said agreements to establish the wind farms were made before he was elected, but he thinks the previous county judge and commissioners did a good job of making sure Willacy residents will benefit financially.

“We’ll be able to lower (property) taxes,” he said. E.ON, a German multinational corporation, will pay the county $200,000 a year for the first 10 years under an agreement for tax abatements, he said.

A PPA contract for electricity generated by the wind energy project has been signed with American Electric Power, Tulis said.

“As far as future wind power projects go, we’ll definitely have to take a look at the market, the price of power and all that goes into consideration for building our projects,” Tulis said.

“The wind farm we have under construction now, we are moving forward with,” Tulis said. “That’s what we would be looking at (in the future), something similar in size.”

www.eon.com

www.vestas.com

www.brownsvilleherald.com