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RWE briefs Hardin County on 200 MW "Greenbelt Wind" plan, timeline and local impact estimates
Summary
Nick Brown of RWE told Hardin County supervisors the company is targeting a roughly 200 megawatt Greenbelt Wind site (about 20,000 acres, up to 40 turbines) with a goal to be operational in 2029; Brown provided company estimates on jobs, taxes and landowner payments and said permitting and pre‑applications would begin in 2026.
Nick Brown, a wind and solar developer with RWE, briefed Hardin County supervisors on the company’s proposed "Greenbelt Wind" project and said RWE is "still looking at a 200 megawatt site" that would cover "about 20,000 plus acres and up to 40 turbines." He told the board the company is aiming for operation in 2029 but emphasized the schedule depends on permitting and later investment decisions.
The project timeline outlined by Brown calls for finishing site-location work by the end of the year, conducting heavy due diligence now, filing pre‑applications in the first quarter of 2026 and moving into permitting and equipment purchases in late 2026 into 2027. "We’re hoping to get that kind of finished up in the rest of this year and maybe early next," Brown said, describing an expected sequencing of topography and underground testing, permitting, interconnection and utility work.
Brown provided RWE’s economic estimates for the county: during construction the company projects roughly 63 direct local jobs, about 69 induced local jobs, $8,000,000 in associated wages and benefits and roughly $20,000,000 in local economic output. For the life of the project, Brown said RWE estimates about $35,000,000 in tax revenue to the county, "almost $40,000,000 for the schools," and approximately $50,000,000 in payments to local landowners. Brown characterized those figures as company estimates and said the specific distribution of revenue would depend on tax formulas and other state and local adjustments.
Brown also described site details and decommissioning practices: he said the company typically removes 5 to 6 feet of a turbine’s concrete base during decommissioning if decommissioning requirements are specified. He described the physical footprint of turbines as small where the foundation and an access road are the primary impacts and said much of the surrounding acreage can remain in agricultural use.
Supervisors asked technical questions about drainage impacts, the number of drainage facilities that could be affected and how wind compares to solar. Brown said he did not have a precise count of affected drainage facilities yet and is focusing now on electrical design ("electrical crane walks and the, electrical, I would say, are the biggest"). He said RWE plans to present more detailed information in a follow-up presentation early next year and will work with county staff on drainage and other technical issues.
Brown outlined required approvals and processes the project would face: conditional use permits (CUP), drainage district reviews, utility permits, transmission and interconnection studies. He said RWE is "pretty far down the road" on development tasks but that the company will proceed with business-as-usual until regulatory or market changes require a pause.
No county approvals or votes on the project were taken at the meeting. RWE said it expects to file pre‑applications in early 2026 and that large capital purchases and heavy construction equipment would not be needed until later in 2027 and into 2028 if permits and agreements proceed on schedule.
Next steps: RWE indicated it will return with more detailed technical information and a presentation early next year; supervisors did not take formal action on the project during this session.
