Work progresses on Willacy wind farm

RAYMONDVILLE — Heavy machinery is being used for road construction and site preparation for more giant wind turbines, which are being built by E.ON Climate & Renewables of Austin.

Construction began in mid-November on a site east of Raymondville, where 112 Vestas V100 1.8-megawatt wind turbines will be installed by the end of 2012, E.ON spokesman Matthew Tulis said.

Blattner Energy Inc. is the contractor handling E.ON’s “Magic Valley” project, which is not affiliated with the Mercedes-based Magic Valley Electric Cooperative, Tulis said.

The turbines will be 262.5 feet high with blades that are 328 feet in diameter, with a total height from base to blade tip of about 426.5 feet, Tulis said.

The wind generators will provide employment, especially during the construction phases, he said.

“To date we have hired 86 people from Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron counties,” Tulis said. “So far we have spent $350,000 on equipment repair, lumber and other costs.”

Three Rio Grande Valley contractors are working on the project, Tulis said: local concrete company CEMEX, Circle R Electric of Willacy County and Jedi Pumping of Willacy County.

Denmark-based company Vestas, which builds the generating turbines being used for the E.ON project, has opened a manufacturing facility in Colorado, Tulis said. Turbines to be used in Willacy County are expected to arrive in Willacy County by the middle of the year, he said.

OPPOSITION

Though the wind farm will be a source of renewable energy, the project isn’t as “green” as its promoters claim, a local environmentalist said.

The threat to birds on a major migratory route is very high, said Walt Kittelberger of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation.

Low-frequency sound and the effect of strobe lights used for aircraft warning on the turbine towers also affect humans and animals, Kittelberger said.

But Kittelberger said because his foundation is more concerned about a plan to build a wind farm offshore, it will concentrate its efforts in fighting that project.

As for the wind farm already being built, Kittelberger doubted its impact on local employment. Only a half-dozen or so workers, likely highly skilled technicians from outside the Valley, will be kept on by E.ON after construction is complete, he said.

Willacy County Judge John F. Gonzales Jr. said that although arrangements to bring the wind farm were made before he was elected, he thinks the previous county judge and commissioners did a good job of making sure Willacy residents will benefit financially.

“We’ll be able to lower (property) taxes,” he said.

E.ON, a German multi-national corporation whose North American subsidiary has an office in Austin, will pay the county $200,000 a year for the first 10 years under an agreement for tax abatements, he said.

“But I agree with Mr. Kittelberger, they’re not going to be hiring many Willacy citizens (in the long run),” Gonzales said. “That has been a concern of mine.”

As far as harm to birds and other environmental concerns, the county has to rely on federal expertise on those issues, the county judge said.

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Allen Essex writes for the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.