For Landowners

Benefits of Wind

At Wind Energy America, we believe our relationships with landowners is much more than a business transaction. We’re partners and neighbors, and we share a mutual respect and concern for the land and the community in which it resides. When we build a wind farm, we lease property from landowners for the life of a project. We are thinking about the same things you are: the beauty of the land, its value as a working piece of property, its affect on your family and your neighbors and its connection to the environment.

If we find that you have strong wind on your property, we can help you transform this endless natural resource into capital. We give straight answers about financial agreements and royalty payments. Through our years of experience, we have streamlined option and lease agreement structures. Wind Energy America believes in a strong alliance with landowners who see the possibilities of conscientious land stewardship combined with profitability and financial security.

Landowners who team up with Wind Energy America benefit from our knowledge and experience in many areas of the country. We partner with farmers and ranchers across the United States. We understand the land and answer specific questions about your property early in the development process. What effect will wind turbines have on my current grazing management methods? What impact will wind turbines have on local watersheds or wildlife management operations? How will a wind farm affect my harvesting operation? How will I be compensated during construction? What about drain tiles? Our engineers and developers have honest answers to these and other concerns you may have, which helps ensure the success of the project, the protection of your land, and your ultimate goal of the project being a mutual benefit to all the parties involved.

Landowner Benefits

As a landowner, you have a resource connected with your land, the wind above it. The wind above your land can be considered a resource similar to the "mineral" resource below your land. To gain access to the wind resource, Wind Energy America must first obtain permission from you, the landowner. This permission comes at a cost to us, the developer, in the form of a lease agreement for access and development of your land. This is similar to leasing arrangements for mineral rights when developers explore for coal or oil. Wind Energy America develops wind farms entirely at its own risk and its principals have an excellent track record for delivering successful projects. The wind resource in your area may or may not be conducive for large-scale wind energy development. A small increase in wind speed results in a large increase in power output from the turbine, so our desire is to find the windiest spots. The wind speed increases with altitude and is slowed down by surface roughness elements such as trees, rough hilly terrain, and buildings. The site must also be accessible to large cranes and other construction equipment and be near the transmission grid. With the uncertainties surrounding today's rural economy landowners are increasingly looking for ways to diversify the use of their land. Energy production from harnessing the wind, is proving an excellent means of doing this and already helping to provide a more secure future for the agricultural industry. Landowners who lease land for wind farms receive a financial income for the life of the project which we can link both to the amount of energy generated and the price obtained from selling it. Over 95% of the land on which a wind farm is built can continue to be used for farming. Specific rates depend on a project's size, location, wind speed and proximity to grid lines, but Wind Energy America is confident that in all cases the packages it can offer are amongst the best available in the market. A Wind Energy America project is always developed with a view to maximizing the overall income available to a landowner from their land - not just from the wind farm on a stand-alone basis.

Economic Facts

Wind developments can significantly help a community's economy. In fact, through many developments in and around the United States, Wind Energy America is spurring economic growth in communities.

Local Jobs

By providing jobs, wind power developments help revitalize rural communities. Wind Energy America Wind Energy aims to use as many local workers and contractors as possible, employing as many as 300 people during project construction, and approximately 1 technician for every 8 turbines during operations. Additionally, once construction is complete, a full time staff is needed to operate and maintain the project. The Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP) estimates that every megawatt of installed wind capacity creates about 4.8 job-years of employment, both direct (manufacturing, construction, operations) and indirect (advertising, office support, etc.). This means that a 50-MW wind farm creates 240 job-years of employment. According to a REPP study released in October 2004, boosting U.S. wind energy installations to approximately eight times today's levels could create 150,000 manufacturing jobs nationwide, with most jobs being added in the 20 states that have lost the most in recent years.

The employment Wind Energy America provides helps counties retain community members by offering skilled positions to local workers.

Local Taxes