"There's been lower national gas prices, which made other forms of electricity cheaper. There's been congestion in the power grid in moving electricity from West Texas when wind farms are generating it to the East where most of the consumption is in the Metroplex," explains Young County Judge Stan Peavy III.
"There's been lower national gas prices, which made other forms of electricity cheaper. There's been congestion in the power grid in moving electricity from West Texas when wind farms are generating it to the East where most of the consumption is in the Metroplex," explains Young County Judge Stan Peavy III.
Construction Delayed for Archer and Young County Wind Farm 0/5 ratingPrint ArticleReported by: Mechell Dixon
This is what officials hoped would become part of the landscape this year in Young County.
Back in 2008, BP was negotiating to bring a 125 megawatt wind farm to Young and Archer Counties.
But county officials say three setbacks are responsible for blowing that deal by the wayside.
"There's been lower national gas prices, which made other forms of electricity cheaper. There's been congestion in the power grid in moving electricity from West Texas when wind farms are generating it to the East where most of the consumption is in the Metroplex," explains Young County Judge Stan Peavy III.
The third setback was the credit …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]Construction Delayed for Archer and Young County Wind Farm 0/5 ratingPrint ArticleReported by: Mechell Dixon
This is what officials hoped would become part of the landscape this year in Young County.
Back in 2008, BP was negotiating to bring a 125 megawatt wind farm to Young and Archer Counties.
But county officials say three setbacks are responsible for blowing that deal by the wayside.
"There's been lower national gas prices, which made other forms of electricity cheaper. There's been congestion in the power grid in moving electricity from West Texas when wind farms are generating it to the East where most of the consumption is in the Metroplex," explains Young County Judge Stan Peavy III.
The third setback was the credit crunch that hit in 2008.
Because of those three factors, BP returned to the negotiating table.
Now, they're offering a new deal.
Officials say that deal involves the construction of an even bigger wind farm.
The new project would construct a 250 megawatt wind farm on open land in Young and Archer Counties.
However, before that can happen county officials need to come up with a new tax abatement agreement with BP.
"Decide how much of the taxes are going to be abated and for how long, basically how BP is going to pay us, how much of a discount we're going to give them off of what they normal pay in ad valorum taxes," says Judge Peavy.
BP officials plan to meet with Young County commissioners in several weeks to decide on that new tax abatement agreement.
And Archer County commissioners expect to meet with BP officials later this month.