In recent months, our Ørsted team has worked alongside local civic leaders and landowners to bring an innovative new project to Bee County. The Helena Energy Center will invest almost a half a billion dollars to build a combined wind and solar project in the Northeast corner of Bee County and within the Pawnee ISD boundary.
We invite you to learn more about the project and voice your support to bring this investment to Bee County. Visit https://helenawind.com to sign up for more details.
With a capital investment of $495 million, the Helena Energy Center provides a positive economic impact with a big return in the form of a new, stable tax revenue source worth millions of dollars that Bee County and the Pawnee ISD can count on for the next 30 years or more.
Our investment means Bee County will have more revenue to improve roads and bridges, support first responders and expand emergency services. It also provides long-term revenue for the Pawnee ISD, which opens doors for the school district to build and improve facilities or invest in new technology to benefit the future generation. All without raising your taxes in Bee County.
The wind and solar energy industry is a drought-resistant cash crop. The Helena Energy Center will grow the agriculture industry in Bee County by supporting families and ranchers with long-term land lease payments.
This stable, fixed income not only helps save legacy land for children and grandchildren, but ranchers will circulate new revenue throughout Bee County by purchasing new equipment, buying more cattle or seed, hiring more labor and exporting more commodities from the State of Texas. As a community partner and good steward of the land, our Helena Energy Center will become your neighbor in business together.
From crude oil and natural gas production to wind-powered generation, Texas is the undisputed leader of our nation’s energy sector. Diversifying Bee County’s energy production industry means the local economy will benefit from less fluctuations in the energy marketplace.
Solar-powered generation is one of the next great opportunities in this sector, and Texas is quickly becoming a dominant player. Strong coastal winds during the afternoon and in the summer, coupled with the significant solar resource during the day, make the Coastal Bend unique.
By utilizing the wind and solar resources of Bee County, or another Coastal Bend region, the 425 megawatt Helena Energy Center will produce enough electricity to power as many as 110,000 homes. This is important during the peak hours of electricity usage to meet growing demand on hot summer days and keep power affordable and available for all Texans.
Our team has deep roots in Texas. As a company, we have developed and constructed five wind farms in Texas that represent more than $1.3 billion in capital investment and that will generate more than $500 million in local property tax and landowner payments over the project life.
We still own and operate these projects today where our employees live, work and raise their families. We are proud to be part of an industry providing ranchers and families with new income, helping reduce the tax burdens on communities, and supporting education for our future generations.
Ørsted is committed to ensuring that Bee County residents have all the information they need as development moves forward. If you have any questions or would like more information, please do not hesitate to send us a direct message and we will be back in touch.
Property valuations near a wind or solar farm:
A study compiled by Texas A&M Real Estate Center and presented at 29th annual outlook for TX Land Markets in April 2019 found “no statistical evidence of adverse property value effects due to views of or proximity to wind turbines.”
A Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study found no evidence that the presence of wind facilities impacted home values. The study was based on 50,000 home sales near 67 wind facilities in 9 states.
Opinion Letter: Gainesville Daily Register, Nov. 13, 2019
Letter: Proximity to a wind farm does not negatively affect property values
Study: Wind Turbines and Property Values by Jennifer Pitts, CRE
What happens to a wind farm after 30 years:
The wind industry in Texas is committed to protecting and preserving our land. There are two options at the end of a wind farm’s average 25-30 year life span:
REPOWERING – As newer, upgraded technology becomes available, renewable energy companies find keep the site in use, but replace older equipment known as “repowering.” With the significant investment made in transmission access, it is more economic to repower the site as an upgraded wind farm will produce electricity at a lower cost.
DECOMMISSIONING – It is in a company’s best business interest to recycle and reuse equipment, however project owners may decide to completely remove a wind farm, which is called “decommissioning.”
The wind industry worked together with Texas lawmakers to draft House Bill 2845, which was passed and enacted on September 1, 2019.
HB 2845 specifies that wind agreements, or leases with landowners, shall contain specific provisions related to the removal of equipment. In the advent of closure of a wind farm, these provisions mandate the removal of wind turbines, towers, foundations, buildings, cabling and more.
Additionally, HB 2845 also requires proof of “financial assurance,” which further protects the landowner and guarantees a wind farm developer will return the land to its former condition.
Enjoy seeing the stars:
Ørsted is not only committed to being good stewards of the land, but also to the environment in which our neighbors live, work and raise a family.
This commitment includes reducing the visual impact of our lighting systems. In working with the Federal Airlines Administration, Orsted invests in the latest “Aircraft Detection System.” Which means, our lighting system is designed to turn red, blinking lights off until the radar picks up aircraft in the area.
So, enjoy seeing the stars across the Texas landscape.
Wildlife and conservation is important to Ørsted:
Ørsted is a partner with the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) and invests in technology research to assess projects, improve conservation and implement solutions.
However, there are a great deal of misperceptions and misinformation regarding the impact of wind projects on area bird species. According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | Threat to Birds,” the following are the greatest threats to birds each year:
(median/average estimated)
Cats 2,400,000,000
Cell phone towers 6,600,000
Tall glass buildings 599,000,000
Cars 214,500,000
Wind turbines 234,012
Ørsted is a global renewable energy company with operations in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. Publicly traded since 2016 and headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted develops, constructs, owns and operates offshore and onshore utility-scale wind farms, solar, energy storage facilities and bioenergy plants and provides energy products to its customers.
In the United States, Ørsted’s renewable energy portfolio spans technologies and geographies with onshore wind, offshore wind, solar and storage in operation or construction across Texas, the Midwest and Northeast markets.
Of Ørsted’s 8GW of global installed capacity, we have 1.3GW of onshore wind in the US with a further 0.8GW under construction. In addition, we have 460MWAC of solar PV and battery storage under construction. By 2025 we aim to have at least 5GW operational onshore capacity across the country. Ørsted has the ambition to be a global green energy major in the rapidly expanding renewable energy market with 30 gigawatts of installed capacity by 2030, enough to power the lives of more than 55 million people.
