This handout is designed to help landowners evaluate a wind developer before they sign an agreement. It is intended to provide a brief discussion of many topics and additional resources, including:

Brad Haight is a renewable energy attorney in Colorado. His presentation "Developer Evaluation" gives landowners a starting place in evaluating a wind energy developer that is interested in their land. The document includes information on wind energy development and a checklist of important information for landowners to gather. Click on the file below to download.

The Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University has published a document entitled "Landowner Guidelines for Evaluating Wind Energy Production Leases". It is aimed at landowners across the country.

This article reprint from Tierra Grande, April 2008, presents an overview of many issues regarding leasing your land to a wind developer. Topics covered include wind data, tax credits, royalties, severance clauses, surface rights and a host of other considerations.

The Arkansas Energy Office is sponsoring a day-long Arkansas Wind Energy Conference on January 17, 2008 at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Keynote speaker Larry Flowers of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will discuss global and national trends for wind energy.

This report from Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory was released in September, 2007. The report, titled "Wind Project Financing Structures: A Review & Comparative Analysis," was authored by John Harper (Birch Tree Capital, LLC), Matt Karcher (Deacon Harbor Financial, L.P.), and Mark Bolinger (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Wind & Hydropower Technologies Program.

The Tutorial: Renewable Power Project Finance, San Diego, CA. The best available introduction to renewable power project finance, according to conference sponsor, Infocast. Attend and learn how to:

· Structure bankable deals specific to the renewable sector
· Optimize the economics of renewable projects

Currently, most landowners who participate in commercial-scale wind development do so by entering into a lease or easement agree

This 100 MW wind farm was organized by a group of local landowners, and sold to PPM Energy for development, although the LLC members have retained some equity in the project.

This report was published by the GAO in September 2004. This report talks about current wind power generation in the U.S. and prospects for growth, economic contributions from wind power to farm income and rural communities in ten states, the trade-offs for farmers of owning a wind project vs. leasing land to a wind project, and the USDA's efforts to promote on-farm rural wind development.