PUD put together an LLC with 2 other PUDs to finance, install, and run wind turbine farms in Klickitat County.

I will write a diary about the details this Winter, but the basic advantages for the district are: 1) control of the resource (and pricing) and 2) full property taxes for the county itself. As to the second part - if the PUD owned the resources directly, the formula for publicly-owned property reduces the tax rate very substantially. Because the LLC owns the turbines, property taxes are set at the standard rate. Klickitat County will soon have $2 billion in assessed value - which is huge in a strictly rural county.

paul spencer