Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed a compromise between the wind energy industry and critics of the state’s green energy mandate.

The deal signed Thursday would remove a requirement that renewable resources account for 20 percent of utilities’ capacity to generate electricity by 2020.

Green energy companies agreed to let the mandate become a nonbinding goal. Legislators in return dropped a proposal to impose a 4.33 percent tax on the electricity generated from renewable resources.

The agreement also would give all new green energy projects tax-free status for their first 10 years and require them to pay commercial property taxes thereafter. Renewable power plants are currently given a lifetime exemption from property taxes.