Engie SA, a French multinational electric utility company that operates natural gas, nuclear, renewable energy and oil generating facilities, is seeking a tax abatement from two Texas school districts to realize lower taxes for the construction of a wind turbine farm in Mills County.
The company’s North American office is based in Houston, a report in the Houston Business Journal said.
The proposed 300 megawatt wind power project will cost about $250 million and build 118 wind-generating turbine machines and their related accessories. Officials at Engie indicated they would begin assembling the project in February.
Nine new jobs will be created in Mills County in central Texas (the county seat is Goldthwaite) to operate the facility once it is operational, the Houston Business Journal reports.
The incentive to build is a tax break. Under Chapter 313 of the Texas Tax Code, Engie is seeking to receive a “tax abatement” from the Priddy Independent School District and the Goldthwaite Independent School District. The school districts would tax the facility only on its footprint – the space occupied by the wind turbine structures. This means the utility would pay a lower tax rate, in this case as though it were worth only $25 million, through a 10-year contractual agreement.
The Houston Business Journal report said because of the state’s school funding formula, a school district actually could make more money through such an agreement, even though it might receive a lower amount of state education funding by lowering the taxes on a project, even one built without incentives.
The report said that under Chapter 313, energy and manufacturing companies are expected to realize $604 million in tax incentives (uncollected taxes) this year, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
Engie is already supplying companies, including Microsoft and Walmart, with electricity from renewable sources, including wind power.
Texas is rapidly building wind energy facilities, many financed by tax incentives, the report noted.