V. Payments. Wind energy land agreements generally require the developer to pay the landowner regular payments for the rights granted in the agreement. In recent years, the developer has paid the landowner a one-time lump sum payment. A common problem that developers encounter regardless of the type of payment is dealing with multiple owners. change of ownership due to the death of the original owners, leaving scattered heirs in possession (some of whom may be minors); or a change of ownership as a result of the sale or transfer of parts of the encumbered land or divorce or otherwise. An agreement that includes provisions for multiple potential landowners or beneficiaries can help reduce the administrative burden on the developer. The agreement could give the developer the option to pay at a single address through joint verification, or allow the developer to pay in an escrow agreement, and let the different owners determine among themselves who is entitled to which payment(s), etc., or other agreements. It can be time-consuming and contentious for a developer to sue, negotiate and determine who is being paid what, given the changing and growing number of people who have some interest in the underlying properties of the project or the right to wind energy land contract payments, and may expose the developer to multiple competing claims. For the developer (actually both parties), adding “and solar” to the definitions of the developer`s basic agreement probably won`t work very well. How does the start of construction of a project affect another proposed project or a sister project? Is there no contractual obligation to build or terminate if a wind or solar project reaches the start of construction or another contractual stage within the specified time frame, even if the other form of renewable resource has not yet been used under the agreement? Particular attention would be required to establish a footprint recovery provision applicable to a wind project (if the agreement provides that the area is to be reduced from the largest premises to the actual locations of the plant (plus buffer) for potential project facilities (as opposed to non-interference and exclusive wind rights that would continue over the largest area) in order to increase the possibility of a solar future Maintain the development outside this footprint. A. Community Facilities.
It is not uncommon for nearby projects, particularly those from the same underlying proponent and the same original site agreements, to share some of the project`s facilities. Economies of scale achieved through the sharing of facilities between or near related projects can make otherwise marginal project sites economically feasible. Sharing and allocating costs related to permitting, developing, operating and maintaining facilities such as common substations and switching stations and related new line upgrades or extensions, operational and monitoring, control and data collection facilities, access roads and other necessary facilities capable of serving more than one project can reduce expenses for each participating project. In some cases, a project may host and construct the site of the substation or operation and maintenance site and sublet other projects or grant another secondary right to use the facility. In other cases, participating projects may jointly own the facility. These sharing agreements are often concluded before the facility is built. Such agreements can help maximize the efficient use of resources and finances and address concerns among lenders and others about the financial burden that a single project might otherwise bear in carrying out development work. III. Purpose of the Agreement and Use of the Property. Another common issue is the purpose of the wind energy land contract and the use the developer can make of the property to achieve that goal.
The obvious purpose of a wind energy land contract is to allow the developer to determine the feasibility of one or more wind energy projects and then build and operate one or more wind energy projects. However, the developer and landowner may disagree on the scope and scope of the property rights that the developer needs to achieve this objective. Generally, developers want the right to take action on the property and use it that they deem necessary to achieve the objective of assessing, building and operating their proposed wind energy projects on or around the property. This generally includes the right to grant rights to others as part of the developer`s authorized uses if this is necessary or desirable for the developer. The landowner, for his part, may want to see these rights restricted so that he has more control over what, where and how the developer can develop the property, and more flexible financial conditions that include the consent of the landowner and /or additional fees for use by third parties or certain types of developments (. B for example, substations, operations and maintenance sites (“O&M”) or similar), as described below. Unfortunately, some landowners who transfer their ownership have begun to reserve rights to existing or future wind projects on the property with transmission instruments and contractual provisions that are far from clear. This exacerbates the complexity and uncertainty of the legal effect of their actions. The same problems arise with other transactions or procedures, such as .B. Divorce or dissolution proceedings in which the parties or courts attempt to allocate and divide assets once held jointly, or in estate plans that may be developed without a full understanding or assessment of the issues raised by the proposed allocation of rights. If a landowner is simply trying to retain the rights to wind turbine revenues on the property to be transferred, they should work closely with a lawyer to ensure that what they wish to do is legal, permitted and in accordance with their wind energy land agreement and is clearly documented. In addition to whether the proposed measure is authorized under state law or authorized under the Wind Energy Lands Agreement, there must be clear direction and protection of the wind developer from risks related to the proposed divided interests.
b. Reuse of the property by the landowner. A unique and attractive feature of wind energy projects is that, in most cases, even after the construction and operation of the project, the landowner can continue to use a large part of the property in question, as he had done before the conclusion of the wind land contract. .