Wind and Solar Leasing in Knox County, Texas

243 megawatts, 67 turbines, still owned by its original developer

El Campo Wind, built in Knox County and operating since 2020, consists of 67 Vestas V150-4.2 turbines -- each with a 150-meter rotor diameter and a 105-meter hub height -- for a combined 243 megawatts of capacity. Unlike some Texas wind projects that get built, sold, and resold to new owner-operators within a few years, El Campo Wind is reported to remain fully owned and operated by its original developer, Longroad Energy, through a project entity (El Campo Wind, LLC). In its most recent reported year of operation, the project generated 839,702 MWh at a 39.5% capacity factor -- both useful benchmarks if you're trying to gauge how a wind project's real-world output compares to its nameplate capacity, since turbines rarely run at full rated output.

Two corporate buyers, not a single utility contract

El Campo Wind's power is sold under two separate corporate power-purchase agreements (PPAs) rather than a single utility offtake contract: DaVita (the dialysis and kidney-care company) buys 83 MW of the project's output, and Crown Holdings (a packaging manufacturer) buys another 111 MW. This corporate-PPA structure is common in modern Texas wind development and matters for a landowner mainly as context -- it shows the project's revenue comes from long-term contracts with specific, named companies rather than pure wholesale power-market sales, which tends to make a project's cash flow, and by extension its ability to pay lease obligations, more predictable over the contract term.

A second wind farm, also built and operating, not a pending proposal

CORRECTED 2026-09: this page previously described Innergex Renewable Energy's (a Canada-based developer) Griffin Trail Wind project in Knox County as still proposed, with county commissioners reportedly considering a roughly $6.6 million-per-year tax abatement in connection with it -- a framing drawn from a December 2019, pre-construction article. In fact, Innergex's own announcements show Griffin Trail Wind (225.6 MW across 80 turbines, spanning Knox and Baylor Counties) reached financial close and was fully commissioned on July 26, 2021, and has been operating for years. Whatever the county's tax-abatement arrangement for the project ultimately was, it is a resolved, historical part of how the project got built, not a live, ongoing negotiation. For a landowner being approached about a new lease, the practical takeaway is that Knox County now has two established, built, tax-paying wind projects as a track record -- worth asking the Knox County Commissioners Court about any specific new project's current status (approved, pending, or withdrawn) rather than assuming Griffin Trail Wind itself is still an open question.

What this means if you're considering a wind or solar lease here

1. Ask a company approaching you about a new lease whether it's affiliated with El Campo Wind's owner-operator (Longroad Energy) or with Griffin Trail Wind's developer (Innergex), both of which now have an established, built track record in the county, or whether it's a new entrant altogether -- useful context for gauging the company's track record locally.
2. Have a landowner-side attorney experienced in Texas wind and solar leases review any proposed lease and easement terms, including decommissioning obligations -- Texas Utilities Code Section 301 requires wind-lease agreements signed on or after September 1, 2019 to make the developer responsible for full removal of turbines, towers, transformers, and buried cables (to at least three feet below grade) at the end of the lease term, so confirm this statutory requirement is reflected in the actual contract language.
3. Ask the Knox County Appraisal District how an existing or proposed wind lease, and any related tax abatement, would affect the appraised value and agricultural-valuation status of a specific tract.
4. If your land is near El Campo Wind or a future project but not part of the lease, ask about turbine setback distances and any noise or shadow-flicker provisions affecting a non-participating adjoining parcel -- Knox County's lack of general zoning means these are governed by the developer's own agreements and applicable state law rather than a county zoning ordinance.