Iberdrola gives $2 million to VW County

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Iberdrola Renewables handed out large checks to a number of local schools and governmental entities in Van Wert and Paulding counties on Thursday as part of the company’s first PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) distribution for its Blue Creek Wind Farm.

Iberdrola officials were joined by State Senator Cliff Hite and State Representative Tony Burkley and a number of local government and school representatives during a ceremony held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court to distribute more than $2 million in PILOT checks.

Van Wert County, which has 115 wind turbines, received the largest portion of the money, $2,070,000, while Paulding County was given $666,000 in a separate ceremony in that county, based on its 37 wind turbines. Each of the 2-megawatt turbines is worth $18,000 in PILOT money. With the distribution, Iberdrola becomes Van Wert County’s top taxpayer, paying out an amount equal to the next 11 taxpayers combined.

Iberdrola is expected to pay out more than $50 million over the 20-year life of the PILOT program.

“This is money that is going to go to local government funds, and we cut local government funds at the state level to help balance the budget, so this is really for them and especially for our schools,” Hite said Thursday. “When some of these checks come in for these schools, they’re discussing lowering their local tax rate, which is just fantastic.”

In addition to county governments, six townships – Tully, Union and Hoaglin in Van Wert County and Benton, Blue Creek and Latty in Paulding County – also receive an average of $1,400 per year, per turbine. Union Township, having the largest number of turbines at 76, will see its annual revenues increase by more than 25 percent.

“We’re always happy to see opportunities that exist that will help the schools,” Burkley said. “This one definitely will be an added benefit to the school districts.

“With a $2 million-plus check coming for the schools, you just can’t ask for anything better than that,” he added. “It just relieves pressure off of other avenues that the schools have to go to, whether it be property tax or income tax there’ll be that much less they’ll have to collect in that avenue. That’s good and we’re happy to see it happen.”

Four school districts – Crestview, Lincolnview, Vantage and Wayne Trace – also received checks on Thursday. In Van Wert County, Crestview, which has the most wind farms in its district, will receive approximately $850,000 a year in new revenue, a funding increase of about 10 percent, while Lincolnview was given nearly $411,000 and Vantage more than $141,000 annually.

“This is my 40th year in education, and I don’t think I have ever seen a source of revenue like this offer itself to a school district like this,” Crestview Superintendent Mike Estes said. “It’s really a windfall for us.”

Other organizations benefiting include the county general fund ($301,148), Thomas Edison Center ($127,473), Van Wert County Council on Aging ($13,340), Tri County Alcohol, Drug and Alcohol and Mental Health Services Board ($29,645), Van Wert County-Ohio State University Extension ($11,858), and Brumback Library ($14,822).

In addition to the annual PILOT distribution, the wind farm was the single largest investment in all of Ohio in 2011, with a total of approximately $600 million spent on the project, which also created 500 construction jobs and another $25 million in local spending and employment of more than 30 Ohio companies.

Blue Creek [video, photos, fact sheet] is the largest wind farm in Ohio and Iberdrola Renewables’ largest in the U.S. The total output is 304 megawatts (MW) and it generates enough electricity to power 76,000 average Ohio homes each year.

“With great wind, supportive communities, great workers, and we hope a stable regulatory environment, wind should continue to have a bright future in Ohio,” said Neil Voje, the Blue Creek plant manager. “We’ve built strong partnerships here, and we’re hopeful we can do more.”

In addition to the PILOT payments, the Blue Creek Wind Farm has already begun making approximately $2 million in annual lease payments to local landowners. Of 28,000 leased acres of corn, soybean and wheat fields, the wind farm occupies less than 200 acres.

Iberdrola has also become a valued community partner to a number of organizations, including The Van Wert County Foundation (which administers the Iberdrola Renewables Scholarship Fund), Van Wert Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (Van Wert Ribfest), Van Wert County Historical Society, Van Wert Elementary School (book fair), Van Wert County Junior Fair, Convoy Fire Department, John Paulding Historical Society and Paulding County Youth Baseball.

Iberdrola Renewables LLC is the U.S. renewable energy division of parent company Iberdrola, S.A., an energy pioneer with the largest renewable asset base of any company in the world. Iberdrola Renewables LLC is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and has more than $10 billion of operating assets totaling more than 5,800 MW of wind and solar generation. For more information, go to the company’s website: www.iberdrolarenewables.us.