More than 50 people met with representatives of Mesa Power Pampa LP Tuesday in the Elliott Community Center. Landowners from Oklaunion, Harold, Punkin Center and Elliott heard the company is interested in possibly leasing land in the area for a wind farm.

Adam Talianchich, of the Austin consulting firm of RPS/JDC, gave an overview of the project. He said the area has a strong wind source. The best sites in the country have about a 50 percent annual gross capacity factor and the area now under consideration has about a 45 percent capacity factor, according to Talianchich.

Mesa Power plans to install two or three 200-foot wind towers in the near future to collect meteorological information for the project. The company is shooting for a 400-500 megawatt project that would require some 30,000 to 40,000 acres of land. This would provide room for 200 to 267 wind turbines.

The installed cost for the project is about $2 million per megawatt with a total $800 million price tag.

Talianchich said the project is expected to start about 2010 or 2011 and be completed and on line in 2011 or 2012.

The consultant gave an overview of the expected revenue for landowners and urged them to look over lease contracts. He said they should consult their attorneys and Mesa would pay any reasonable attorneys' fees.

"Mesa is ready to sign up landowners, and we are offering a very competitive lease," Talianchich said.

The company has opened an office at 1709 Cumberland in Vernon and urged landowners to come by if they have any questions or if they are ready to sign a lease.

Florida Power and Light Energy suspended work on a proposed 35,000-acre wind power project in northern Wilbarger County last week, citing concerns about transmission systems as the reason for the indefinite delay. According to FPL Energy officials, the company's decision to delay construction of the wind turbines is a temporary delay and will not have any effect on lease agreements with landowners.

Construction of a wind farm in the north western part of Wilbarger County by FPL Energy would not influence Mesa Power Pampa's construction of a similar facility in the north eastern part of the county, according to according to Mesa officials.