November 28, 2019
Texas

Commissioners OK letter to wind farm

By Jimmy Galvan | Bay City Tribune | baycitytribune.com

After tabling the issue last week, the Matagorda County Commissioners Court approved a letter to Peyton Creek Farms regarding the county’s permitting process.

“The letter appeared to be pretty straight forward to their questions,” said Matagorda County Commissioner Kent Pollard.

According to the letter drafted to Paul Bowman with Peyton Creek Wind Farm, LLC, it appears that the wind farm was requesting Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald to verify “that there are no county environmental or land use regulations, ordinances or permits in Matagorda County that are applicable to the construction or operation of its facilities.”

The letter stated that “other than relevant Flood Plain Development permits, septic permits and electrical permits, Matagorda County does not have any environmental, land use, zoning, noise, construction, safety, occupancy or other similar ordonnances, regulations or permits that would be applicable to the wind projects. Matagorda County does not speak to the existence of federal or state regulations.”

The letter stated that Peyton Creek Wind Farm must still comply with all provision of the road ruse and master road repair agreement between Peyton Creek and Matagorda County ef-fective July 8.

E.On’s Peyton Creek wind farm is well under construction in Matagorda County with the project ex-pected to be completed by the end of 2019.

Richard Saunders of E.On said the project would guarantee 10 jobs with an investment on the bank-roll being at $170-180 million.

“Peyton Creek will be our 24th wind project in North America and construction, along with our long-term operation of this project, will deliver clean, low-cost energy to South Texas and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue and land lease payments,” said Silvia Ortin, Chief Operating Officer North America. “We appreciate the support of the local community and are excited to significantly diversify the tax base and employment opportunities in the area.”

The project, located in the ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) south market, is powered by 48 3.15 MW turbines supplied by the Nordex Group and will generate enough electricity to power more than 45,000 homes. With the addition of Peyton Creek, E.ON will have a total capacity of more than 4,000 MW online in the U.S.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/11/28/commissioners-ok-letter-to-wind-farm/