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Company outlines decommissioning and repowering of Prairie Hill wind farm; court receives report
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Summary
NG North America (Engie) told the court it will decommission about 100 older turbines and replace them with 63 larger machines, keep a 300 MW nameplate, recycle components (metals to Houston, fiberglass shredded in Amarillo/Iowa) and coordinate safety and community outreach; the court accepted the report for recording.
Russ Keane, representing NG North America (Engie), and company staff briefed McLennan County commissioners on the Prairie Hill wind farm decommissioning and repowering program, which the company said will remove about 100 older turbines and replace them with 63 larger, modern turbines while maintaining a roughly 300 megawatt nameplate.
Keane described the multiyear plan as a decommissioning followed by new construction: crews have felled test towers and are sequencing batches of removals and cleanup. Company representatives said roughly nine turbines were scheduled to come down "today and tomorrow," with multiple batches following and an expected finish for decommissioning around August (weather permitting), then new construction beginning in fall with turbine deliveries in April 2027 and project completion in 2027.
John Fournier, identified by the company as the overall developer, told the court the original configuration included 14 turbines sited in McLennan County (about 42 MW) and that in the new arrangement McLennan County will have fewer but larger machines (for example the reconfigured county count was described in the presentation as 3 turbines totaling 28.8 MW in McLennan, with a 27 MW minimum obligation under tax documentation).
Cody Earl, chief executive of Destructible (the decommissioning contractor), described steps to manage fiberglass and other materials: blades and fiberglass components will be collected from sites, shredded and processed at company facilities (Amarillo and Dexter, Iowa), with off‑takes including waste‑to‑energy and incorporation into concrete mixes; metals will be torch‑cut and shipped to Houston for recycling, and concrete foundations removed to three feet below grade and reused locally. The company said it aims for landfill diversion and to recycle as much material as possible.
Company staff emphasized safety coordination with sheriff's and emergency services, advance public notices, and planned community viewing events for parts of the explosive felling operations. Commissioners pressed company representatives about tax‑base and valuation impacts while turbines are offline; company staff said minimum tax obligations have been met and that assessed values for the new project are projected to generate roughly $105,000,000 over 30 years to the same taxing entities, though exact calculations must be confirmed with tax consultants.
The court recorded the presentation for the record; no formal vote or approval of permits was taken at the March 17 meeting.
