Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Stephens County Commissioners voted at their meeting on Monday, Jan. 12, to hire legal counsel to notify NextEra Energy that it is in violation of requirements governing the red warning lights at the La Casa wind farm, according to  David Fambro, commissioner for Precinct 1 in the southeast part of the county, where the wind farm is located. The vote took place following an executive session with Jake Lederle, the attorney hired by Stephens County to represent the County in the original wind farm negotiations.

The red warning lights mounted on the wind turbines are part of an Aircraft Detection Lighting System (ADLS), which is sensor-triggered. Under normal operation, the lights should activate only when an aircraft enters a specific area or range and remain off most of the time. However, speakers during the public comment section of the Monday’s meeting, local residents said the lights are currently blinking continuously.

NextEra agreed to install the ADLS lighting system on the wind turbines as part of their tax abatement agreement with the county. In the Dec. 22, 2025, commissioners meeting, County Judge Michael Roach said that he had been assured that the system would be working — that is, that the lights would be off unless an aircraft was in the area — by Jan. 1 and that if it was not working, the County would send a letter to NextEra telling them that they are in violation of the agreement. In order to qualify for the County’s tax abatement, NextEra must be in compliance.

“We came out of Executive Session today (Jan. 12) and agreed to hire counsel to notify them they’re in violation of the ADLS,” Fambro said following the meeting. “So they should be receiving a letter… it’s on record that that’s what we did today.”

Fambro said the tax abatement agreement provides a limited window for compliance. “So from the date they receive the letter, they have 30 days to amend it, for them not to lose their abatement,” he said.

Asked whether any alternative agreement could be reached, Fambro said the issue must be fixed. “I don’t think there’s any agreement to come to, other than to fix it,” he said.

Concerns about the lighting system were raised earlier in the meeting during public comments from residents who live near the wind farm.

Steve Dempsey, who lives in the southeastern part of the county where the windmills are located, said the ADLS is intended to limit when the turbine lights are activated.

“The ADLS system is not working as it’s supposed to,” Dempsey said. “This last week, (the lights were blinking) all night long; they’ve been doing that for some time. I’d like to see the Commissioners Court address that with NextEra, tell them they’re in breach of contract.”

Dempsey said he read the contract between NextEra and Stephens County and couldn’t find any grace period for getting the ADLS system working. “According to this, the way I interpreted it, it should be working now, and it’s not,” he said.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Will Warren, who was presiding over the meeting because County Judge Michael Roach was absent, told Dempsey that he agreed, that they had something in the works, and that they would let them know later on.

In an interview after the meeting Dempsey reiterated what he said in the meeting, “It’s an ADLS system, commercial system, and it’s supposed to trigger a sensor for the lights, that they will come on when an aircraft is in a certain area, gets in a certain range, so they should be off the majority at the time,” Dempsey said. “But they’re constantly blinking.”

He said he has not received any information directly from NextEra on when the system will be operational.

“NextEra doesn’t talk to us,” he said. “They told me a long time ago, they’re through talking to me. So we have to go through the court to get any information.”

Zola George talks to the Stephens County Commissioners about how the blinking red lights on the wind turbines can be seen from his property in southeast Stephens County all night long. He asked the commissioners to enforce the contract that requires NextEra Energy to have a system in place that turns off the lights when no planes are in the area. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Zola George, another resident whose property is next to the wind turbines, spoke during public comments and described the impact of the lights on nearby homes.

“The turbines are towering and spinning, surrounding my home, and the only thing worse than that is the monotonous, constant blinking red lights I and the citizens of Stephens County see from dusk till dawn,” George said.

George thanked the commissioners for including the ADLS requirement as condition for the tax abatement granted to NextEra.

“Installing workable ADLS system was a very important condition and requirement for NextEra to have received the tax abatement you gave them,” he said. “Not surprisingly, they have failed to comply and have also given different stories as to when it is expected to be fully operational. … Please take immediate action to shut off those obnoxious red lights; your southeast Stephens County property values have suffered enough.”

Following the meeting, Fambro told the Breckenridge Texan that the county officials expected the aircraft detection lighting system to work from the beginning, even though the project is unusual.

“This is only the second ADLS system that has been done in the state of Texas, if I understand correctly,” he said. “So whenever we set everything up in the abatement process, what we said is we wanted ADLS. Our expectations were that ADLS would work (from) day one.”

However, Fambro said representatives from NextEra told him that the windmills have to be up and operational in order for them to be able to set up the ADLS. Additionally, he said that other states that have laws requiring ADLS have built-in grace periods ranging from 30 days to nine months, something the Stephens County officials were not aware of.

Cutline, top photo: Stephens County resident Steve Dempsey informs the county commissioners that the Aircraft Detection Lighting System that NextEra Energy agreed to install on the wind turbines in the southeastern part of the county are not operational. He said the contract between the county and NextEra does not provide any type of a grace period. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)