Local Wind Farms Sold

Young County Commissioner Stacey K. Rogers announced the sale of Trinity Hills Wind Farm located in Archer and Young counties. British Petroleum (BP) a London-based oil and gas producer decided to sell three wind farms in Texas to restructure its portfolio to focus on technology upgrades for other U. S. sites according to NASDAQ.

“The wind farm was purchased by Ares Management Corporation, a publicly traded alternative asset manager that manages capital on behalf of third-party investors. Ares Management has more than three decades of energy, infrastructure and asset management experience in the U.S.” Rogers said.

Trinity Hills Wind Farm currently has 90 towers with 225 megawatts. There are 30 towers in Young County and 60towers in Archer County. According to the Houston Chronicle, it takes one megawatt to power 200 homes on a summer day in Texas. BP started construction on Trinity Hills Wind Farm during the first quarter of 2012 on a 33,000-acre site.

Rogers said “BP was not making money on the sale of energy. They profited by getting capital credit from the government and were having failures with the Clipper turbines. The plan is for Ares to repower Trinity Hills Wind Farm with turbines made by Vesta, a company which has been in the turbine business for 40 years.

Rogers sat in a conference call with the county judges of Archer and Young counties and with Ares Management Corporation to announce the purchase of Trinity Hills Wind Farm. The official date of transfer was Dec. 21, 2018.

EDF Renewable has been contracted to take over the management of the wind farm. EDF has more than 30 years’ experience managing wind farms.

Rogers said” Young County will be negotiating with the new owners on a road use agreement and property taxes. Currently, BP has a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) with 10-year abatement. Legally this cannot be extended to the new owners.”

 Commissioner Rogers is excited about the announcement of the repowering of Trinity Hills Wind Farm because this will extend the life for approximately 20 more years. The reinvestment zone will stay the same, the properties within the reinvestment zone will have their contracts extended and will continue to receive compensation. Property owners with generators should also have their contracts extended.

Letters will be sent to wind farm property owners within a couple of weeks from Ares Management to announce upcoming property owners’ meetings. Rogers said “This will give the wind farm property owners the opportunity to meet the new owners of Trinity Hills Wind Farms. More information will be announced later.