Payment for option to install a Wind Turbine.

lartsa

I have been approached by a wind farm developer with a view to installing a 2.5MW turbine (one of a larger scheme they are planning)
on a plot of marginal land I own. They are looking to sign me up with an option agreement that if all goes to plan – planning grid connection etc they will develop the wind farm.
Anybody any experience of this? Specifically what is the going rate for these type of options?
Cheers

chickenbutt

My aunt and uncle live in a farming community in Minnesota and have been fighting these wind companies (Airtricity) for a long time now to stop development of wind farms... I seriously recommend doing some research and talking to people who have signed contracts to understand what you would be getting yourself into. I can send her an email for links into this sort of thing (she is very passionate about stopping this development around them) if you would like. The farmers in their community have organized themselves to fight the companies and they've been screening this film called Windfall that we watched one day and it was really eye opening. There are a lot of side effects to having wind turbines so close to your home that are never mentioned when you sign a contract, and a lot of people don't realize. Also, these contracts that farmers sign are for 50+ years and are legally never allowed to discuss what it says to anyone. It's definitely worth researching before you get yourself into something you can't get out of.

djmc

I have spoken to people who live closest to wind turbines and were against planing they told me the turbines were no problem whatsoever once up
Drive up to a wind farm on a windy day and see how far away you can hear the turbine noise not far really
As for the lease option you should look for something to sign it as I have wasted
10 years on 2 leases and still nothing built
I think they are offering around 3 per cent of electricty sale price as rent for twenty years

johngalway

lartsa wrote: »

I have been approached by a wind farm developer with a view to installing a 2.5MW turbine (one of a larger scheme they are planning)
on a plot of marginal land I own. They are looking to sign me up with an option agreement that if all goes to plan – planning grid connection etc they will develop the wind farm.
Anybody any experience of this? Specifically what is the going rate for these type of options?
Cheers

Don't know anything about this, but one thing I heard on BFF was some companies signing farmers up, then doing nothing, solely to deny that bit ofland to other companies. Make sure you know what you're signing up for and that there's definitely something in it for you before you sign anything.

No6

It depends on the size of the machine, they may not get planning for the size of machine they want so the cost per base is variable, agree a cost per MW and at then you will be covered, sign the lease option only for a set period of years say 5, Its unlikely they will pay you money upfront, its a big gamble to put a wind farm in for planning so they will want to keep their initial costs down. It takes years and years to develop wind farms in Ireland so don't be hoping for a quick return.

yourpics

lartsa wrote: »

I have been approached by a wind farm developer with a view to installing a 2.5MW turbine (one of a larger scheme they are planning)
on a plot of marginal land I own. They are looking to sign me up with an option agreement that if all goes to plan – planning grid connection etc they will develop the wind farm.
Anybody any experience of this? Specifically what is the going rate for these type of options?
Cheers

They will usually lease your land for 20-25 years and you will receive approximatley 2500 euro per megawatt. plus free road through your land. also its usually easy enough to negotiate a few small extras like bit of fencing, gate and drainage.

The_Conductor

We're currently on wave 4 of the connector rollout- the big issue that has arisen in recent times is county councils giving planning permission for wind farms and/or standalone turbines, in locations that have not interconnector access and may never get access to the interconnector. Some of these might be single or small group turbines (there are several in the Sligo area with permission and planning permission- but no connectors), some may be SAC developments (2 in Connemara- with interconnector access, but no planning permission) and several are for all intents and purposes ready to go- but can't get access to the interconnector and are using and generated power privately at present (quite a few of these in Co. Limerick at the moment).

You really need to do a lot of study on the likelyhood of both getting PP and an interconnector link- before saying Yay or Nay to anyone on this.

Galway area appears to have lots of interconnector access thats not being used at present (why I have no idea). Most other areas have poor/very poor access.......

blue5000

Hi OP what part of the country are you in and how far is the site from the nearest house?
Take it slowly, don't sign up to anything yet, it is a slow process.

No6

2500 per mw. is very low, grid connection is a huge problem, smaller developments can go into the local grid rather than the national grid it depends on the size of nearby substations

yourpics

No6 wrote: »

2500 per mw. is very low, grid connection is a huge problem, smaller developments can go into the local grid rather than the national grid it depends on the size of nearby substations

How much would u expect per mw per year?

blue5000

50k min

yourpics

blue5000 wrote: »

50k min

50,000 euro per mw per year??

You would want to have a rethink, I know for a fact 2500 euro per mw per year is more the norm.

The_Conductor

blue5000 wrote: »

50k min

Really?
Can you provide a source for this please- as its way over the odds.
There isn't a normal- it depends on a lot of factors, not least the site itself, proximity to an interconnector, local substations etc. The norm is anything from 1k per megawatt per year to 5k per megawatt per year (in an ideal site on an ideal location).

There isn't a norm- however your 50k figure sounds quite incredible.

bbam

djmc wrote: »

Drive up to a wind farm on a windy day and see how far away you can hear the turbine noise not far really

Not sure about that..
We live across the valley from 10 turbines, medium size.
When the wind is in line from the turbines to our house you can clearly hear them, it's a quiet area and they are about 2 miles away..
Having said that it's not a problem at all for us and I think they are an excellent addition to our power capabilities and with appropriate planning we should be moving ahead with more.

Not knocking them but there's no point in thinking there is no noise from them.