Clearing the Hurdles to Economical Wind Power, Remarks of Jeffrey D. (Dan) Watkiss
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
"On top of contracting to purchase or lease access to a wind resource and negotiating EPC agreements with equipment vendors and contractors, the developer of wind generation confronts an obstacle course of additional legal/economic hurdles that must be cleared if its project is to succeed."
Electricity from the Wind: What Landowners Should Know, an unsourced 4-page PDF retrieved 30 May W 07, advises
"But as with any business venture, rural landowners interested in leasing their land should do their homework."
Sections include
- Lease Agreement
- Easements
- More Factors to Consider
- Heavy industrial equipment
- Landowners should review their insurance policies
- Landowners should discuss taxes with the developer and with an attorney
- Wind turbines may be sited on Conservation Reserve Program and grassland easements. (Know which restrictions do apply)
- Landowners should not feel pressured by developers to enter into a leasing arrangement
"Landowners who install wind turbines on their land should expect a lot of attention."
Eminent Domain and Wind Development in New York is a webpage from Save Western NY, a voluntary association of residents and property owners in the Town of Wethersfield.
An article appeared in North American Windpower in January of 2006 (Marketplace, p. 28) entitled "Eminent Domain And Wind Development In New York", authored by Steven D. Wilson of the law firm of Read and Laniado. The article is no longer at the firm's website.
Among Mr. Wilson's conclusions in the article:
"To incorporate under the same provisions as have New York's investor-owned utilities, an entity need only satisfy the statutory definition and carry on the functions of a gas or electric corporation. The statute defines gas and electric corporations broadly, requiring only that the corporation is organized to generate and supply electricity for public use.
Accordingly, it appears that a private wind developer could satisfy the definition of an electric corporation and, thus, could incorporate as such. This grants the private developer the power of eminent domain."
Landowners with property adjacent to a wind farm are "concerned the power of eminent domain would allow developers to cross property with power lines, with trenches, with no public hearing."
{me} Is this something South Dakota wind farmers should be "what if-ing" as well?
- Oldest 10 PM May 29, Calm
- 9 AM May 30, ESE at 5 mph mist
- [Now we're back to normal]
- 1 PM May 30, SSE at 22 mph
- 5 PM May 30, WSW at 20 mph
- 8 PM May 30, W at 21 mph.
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'Til next time. Best Wind.
