Wind & Solar Leasing in Coryell County, Texas

The law: SB 277 and the 25-nautical-mile radius

In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 277, which prohibits a wind-powered energy device from receiving a property tax abatement under Tax Code Chapter 312 or Chapter 313 if the device is located within 25 nautical miles of a military aviation facility. The restriction applies to wind devices installed or constructed on or after September 1, 2017, and it does not apply retroactively to reduce incentives already granted to existing turbines, or block the expansion or repowering of a project that predates the law. Lawmakers passed it specifically to protect military flight training and radar operations: modern wind turbines can rise up to roughly 500 feet, tall enough to conflict with helicopter training routes flown as low as 200 feet, and to create false radar returns that complicate both training and air-defense operations near a base.

Chapter 313's broader school-district value-limitation program has since expired on its own separate statewide timeline, unrelated to SB 277, which narrows the practical relevance of that half of the law today; Chapter 312's county and municipal property tax abatement authority remains active and is the piece SB 277 still meaningfully restricts near a base like Fort Hood.

Why this reaches nearly the whole county

In most Texas counties, SB 277's 25-nautical-mile radius is a partial constraint -- it affects land near a distant base's boundary, but leaves plenty of county land clear of the zone. Coryell County is different because Fort Hood's own aviation facilities sit inside the county itself, not miles away in a neighboring jurisdiction. A 25-nautical-mile circle drawn from an aviation facility located within Coryell County's own boundaries covers essentially the entire county and a substantial buffer beyond it. Practically, that means a wind-powered energy device built anywhere in Coryell County today is very likely inside the restricted radius, and therefore ineligible for a Chapter 312 property tax abatement on that specific improvement -- a real, checkable, county-specific consequence of a law that reads as a generic statewide rule until you notice where the base actually sits.

What SB 277 does not restrict

SB 277 is narrow in an important way: it restricts eligibility for a specific tax incentive, not the right to build or lease land for a wind turbine at all. A landowner can still sign a wind lease and a developer can still build in Coryell County; the project simply won't qualify for a Chapter 312 abatement on the turbine improvements themselves, which changes project economics but is not a legal prohibition on construction. The law also applies only to wind-powered energy devices -- it says nothing about solar. A solar lease or ground-mount solar project in Coryell County is not affected by SB 277 at all, and remains eligible for whatever Chapter 312 abatement program the county or a taxing unit otherwise offers, subject to that program's own separate terms.

Separate from SB 277, any wind or solar project near Fort Hood should also expect scrutiny tied to the base's flight operations and training areas more broadly -- height, lighting, and glare can all raise real compatibility questions with an active military aviation and training mission, independent of the tax-code question. That falls outside SB 277 itself and is a matter for direct coordination with Fort Hood and the county, not something this specific tax statute addresses.

Before signing a wind or solar lease in Coryell County

1. Don't assume a wind lease's projected returns include a Chapter 312 property tax abatement -- given Fort Hood's location, most or all of Coryell County likely falls inside SB 277's 25-nautical-mile restricted radius, and the developer's own financial modeling should reflect that.
2. If evaluating a solar lease instead, confirm that SB 277 genuinely does not apply (it doesn't, for solar) and ask separately whether any Chapter 312 abatement program the county offers is available for the specific project.
3. For either technology, contact Fort Hood's community planning liaison and Coryell County directly about height, lighting, and airspace compatibility near the installation -- a separate question from the tax-incentive issue and one the JLUS process (see the county hub) was specifically designed to address.
4. Have a Texas energy or real estate attorney review any wind or solar lease's tax-incentive assumptions and any decommissioning and easement terms before signing.