Leases and Easements

The Wind Easement Workgroup developed a list of recommended policies and practices for facilitating orderly and sustainable wind energy development. These policies are designed to protect landowners, enhance economic development opportunities in wind energy, and broaden access to wind energy market information.

Click on the link below to read the document.

This expanded document covers wind energy land leases as well as wind energy easements and features updated information on provisions, recommendations, and items to watch out for.

Click on the link below to read the document.

Wind developers buy the turbines from the manufacturers, lease the land to place the turbines, construct and operate the development, and sell the electricity to a utility or distribution company. As a landowner, your business role will be to negotiate a contract for the lease of your land to a wind developer.

To prepare for this, you need to understand your product (your land) and market it to your customer (the wind developer).

Wind developers are looking at more than just a strong wind resource, though. They are also looking at the availability of transmission lines, the amount of open space, and a host of other factors.

In reality, if a developer is interested in your land to host a project, they will contact you. Wind developers assume that landowners have not performed any preparatory analysis of their land. They choose sites based upon their own analysis methods. When they have located suitable sites, they contact the landowner to negotiate a lease. Sometimes before deciding on the land they will ask the landowner if they can perform their own analysis of the site, including installing an anemometer (wind measuring instrument).

If you think you have a sufficient understanding of your land and your wind resource, you can invite conversations with developers. Wind developers range from large, multi-national wind turbine manufacturers to small regional businesses.

Windustry has developed several documents that provide information for both landowners and developers about how to negotiate fair lease deals. Visit our leases and easements page to read about lease agreement guidelines, compensation packages, and best practices.

This speech was given by Bernard Noling of the Southwest Kansas Royalty Owners Association in 2003. He goes over suggestions and things to look out for in negotiating a wind lease, and describes how wind leases are similar to mineral leases.

Click here to go to the SWKROAw website, and follow the link to the wind leases piece.