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Yes - LandGate can provide you with a free estimate that will let you know approximately how much you could receive to lease your land for a wind farm per acre per year. To receive this estimate, you can simply claim ownership of your property on our map
Learn more about leasing your land for wind turbines.
When you claim ownership of your parcel on our map, the LandEstimate™ provided by LandGate for wind rights leasing considers your property's distance to electrical infrastructure (transmission lines and substations), average wind velocity, topography, buildable acreage, ease of access to your property, current and future demand for electricity, state and federal incentives, and more.
The lifespan of new generation wind turbines typically ranges from 20 to 30 years. However, your relationship with a wind energy developer is typically much longer than this. From the option period through the end of a formal lease agreement, your relationship with a wind developer may last anywhere from 30-50 years. In addition to this, most wind leases also include an option for the developer to extend the lease for a few more years following the completion of the formal lease agreement.
There are many ways that landowners can be paid when they lease their land for wind turbines, and it varies depending on a few different factors. Landowners can also negotiate their wind lease payments.
Most wind leases start with an option period, in which the developer pays you $2 to $20 per acre per year while they do their due diligence to ensure that they can begin construction. Once the wind turbines are generating electricity, wind developers pay a higher base rent payment plus a potential royalty percentage based on the revenue generated from the turbines. Full lease payment amounts are around $2,500-$12,000 per year per turbine. Turbine payments are heavily dependent on age and size of the turbine. You can learn more about wind lease payments here!
A wind lease option is an agreement that gives the wind developer the exclusive right to enter into a lease agreement to develop a wind farm on your land. The option period of 2 - 6 years gives the developer time to obtain necessary regulatory permits, enter into power purchase agreements with electricity purchasers, obtain financing, conduct environmental studies, etc.
A wind lease option does not mean you are guaranteed to have wind turbines on your property. Wind developers use a wind lease option to ensure that they will have the exclusive right to enter into a formal wind farm land lease agreement before they invest time and money into their evaluation.
A fixed annual payment for a wind lease is a pre-negotiated amount of money you will be paid annually for your wind farm lease. The number of years is also pre-negotiated and usually 20-25 years, with an option to extend the number of years. Unlike most solar farm lease agreements, there is a good chance that your wind farm lease agreement would also provide for royalty payments to be paid to the landowner. Royalty payments are based on a percentage of the revenue received by the developer.
A Power Purchase Agreement is an agreement between the wind farm developer and a company wanting to purchase the electricity. The wind farm developer will need this agreement in place prior to making the large investment to build the wind farm on your land.
In a fixed annual rent payment lease, the landowner will not benefit from higher future electricity prices. However, if your lease provides for a royalty payment, your monthly royalty check would increase as the wind farm developer receives increased revenue as electricity prices increase.
You will be responsible for property taxes on the portion of your property that is not developed for a wind farm. The wind farm lease agreement generally provides that the developer will be responsible for the taxes assessed on the wind farm developed lands.
Landowners receiving payments from wind developers can market and sell those future payments. Selling future wind lease payments is generally in the best interest of the landowner, since those payments technically decrease in value over time as a result of inflation, and the lease payments are never guaranteed (the developer of the lease can stop operating the solar facility at any time). Property owners can market the payments they receive from their wind lease with LandGate. https://landgate.com/app/listings and follow the process to create a listing.