Abilene Times

Mesquite Star, a 419-megawatt wind farm in Fisher County, went online in June to begin providing power under long-term agreements with corporate and institutional customers including Brown University, Lowe’s and Ecolab.

The project, owned by New Jersey-based Clearway Energy Group, received a waiver from meeting the minimum number of jobs created to meet requirements for tax incentives from both Roby Consolidated Independent School District and Roscoe Collegiate Independent School District. Total tax incentives of nearly $400,000 are coming from Fisher County ($303,700) and the Fisher County Hospital District ($91,750), according to documents filed with the Texas comptroller's office

The tax abatements are allowed by Chapter 13 of the tax code, the tax incentive documents report, and will last 10 years, starting this year.

But those will not be the only incentives that Clearway Energy Group received to bring the project to west Texas. Roscoe Collegiate Independent School District is limiting the taxable value (and as such, the amount of property tax money that comes in from this project) to $30 million, down from more than $165 million. Roby CISD has also limited the taxable value of the project to $20 million (down from $193 million). These reduced values will stay in place until 2030, like the tax breaks from the county and the hospital district.  

The school districts’ job creation waivers enabled the company to get the tax breaks without guaranteeing to create at least 10 jobs in each of the school districts. The company said it would create four new jobs for Roscoe CISD and five new jobs for Roby CISD.

Nearly 300 construction jobs were created as the wind farm and its infrastructure was built, with about a dozen ongoing jobs created, Power Technology reported.

“We’re proud of the team that came together to bring this project to life,” Craig Cornelius, CEO of Clearway Energy Group, said, Clearway reported. “Successfully launching a project like this, at a time like this, demonstrates the durability of this industry even under the most difficult circumstances. Mesquite Star will provide clean, affordable wind power in the Lone Star State for decades to come while supporting our customers in meeting their sustainability and clean energy goals. We thank our customers, landowners, construction partner, and the many others involved in the success of this project.”