Letter to the editor, Wind corporations are setting their sights on Erath, Hamilton, and Comanche Counties one more time. Orsted, a Danish company is actively seeking landowners to lease land for wind turbines to be located in the above counties.
First there were letters directly from Orsted, now there are phone calls by landmen who have all your information already on hand. Yes, they are doing their homework, after all they get paid handsomely for their efforts should you lease.
They are looking at areas across CR 1702 in Comanche, maybe as far as HWY 36, to FM 219 in Erath and east side and west of HWY 281 in Hamilton. My estimate is they will be looking across an area of 40,000 to 50,000 acres to make a site of a minimum of 12,000 acres, for a minimum of approximately 100 MW of wind generation.
There are people already interested in signing, but it is unknown if they have yet. Don’t fall for the old story, “well - your neighbor has signed, so you might as well.”Talk to your neighbors, even if the company doesn’t like you to do this and always talk to a knowable attorney in leasing.
The lease I saw was paid by the tower when construction was complete with a small fee per acre until construction began, then a slightly larger fee during construction. There are other compensations as well for buried wiring and destruction of property. The majority of wind payments are like oil and gas, you get a portion of the generation. This can be problematic. May start out great guns, but when there is so much wind on the grid – they can’t use it all so it is curtailed. Which means your turbine may not be turning. If it is curtailed then the wind company will get paid, you don’t! Theseleasesare 40-60 years, and the wind turbine blades appear to last10-12 years.
This company is having its own issues, losing $545 million in just one quarter last year. The other day their stock dropped 7% after President Elect Trump stated that wind doesn’t work without subsidies. He is quoting an old saying by Warren Buffett, who also said the same thing; and the subsides were the only reason he was invested in wind. Then he earned $22 Billion in tax credits. NextEra, a huge wind company and its parent utility, was recently quoted as earning $435 Billion in credits. Rather lucrative for them for now, we shall see what the new president will do. That’s a problem for you if you sign, you are at the whims of politicians!
One big issue that most people don’t think about and the landmen will not tell you is if the blades fall, the turbine falls, or if the nacelle catches fire, then your ground is contaminated with fiberglass and oil. I know some people who have had to fence off large acreages after this happened and some of their cattle died. I am sure you have all seen the news about the blades falling off a turbine close to Nantucket beaches and the issues they have had there. So no, I am not making this up!
Texas has millions of acres covered in wind turbines and solar panels, and not enough transmission to get the power to market so that brings us to the next issue – transmission. That will be coming through Erath, Comanche and Hamilton counties and does involve eminent domain. The decision will be made this year on the type of transmission and the final routes it will be taking. I’ll bring that info to you later in the year.
Joanna Friebele, Erath County Resident (windsolarcrap@gmail. com)