Landowners and Onshore Wind Farms

If you are a landowner, and your lands have good wind resources, you may be interested in leasing them to wind farm developers, or in erecting one or more wind turbines yourself, if you are able to arrange $1.000.000 or more per turbine...

Landowners and local communities are common co-partners of energy companies. Good windy sites are crucial to wind developers and it may be easy to interest them, if the site is effectively a good one, with an high average wind speed: a site with a 10% higher annual wind speed may produce 20% or more extra energy...

Wind speed and turbulence

Wind farms and mega-wind turbines demand sites with an adequate average wind speeds and a non-turbulent pattern.

See:
Wind speed and wind maps

The property size

Wind farms demand relatively large properties. Turbines in a wind farm can’t be too close. They need to be widely spaced in order not to cause turbulence to each other: mega turbines must be sited sufficiently apart from each other (say 2,500 feet / 750 m apart)

The footprint of their towers is also significant: 16 feet/5m in diameter, base foundations of over 300 cubic yards of concrete and access service roads of 16 feet/5m width are common.

Farming and wind systems

Wind systems do not collide with farming. After a wind farm has been built, most of the land can still be used for farming: 98% or more. The towers take up a very small amount of land, and the blades do not disturb farming since they are well above the ground in order to allow better wind speeds.

Leasing the wind rights

Leasing the wind rights of your land for a wind project can be very profitable. Your annual income from a single mega wind turbine can attain values of $3,000 or more (it depends upon the electricity generated in your site). Landowners income from the wind rights amounting to $50 to $80 per acre are rather typical.


Conditions needed to wind farms

There are several conditions for a wind farm to be viable and profitable. The wind velocity and constancy is one, very important. But there are others:

- Proximity and access to transmission lines (sub-stations and high-voltage power lines). Proximity and easy access may represent huge advantages. A remote place, too far from electrical infrastructures may be condemned in terms of development of onshore wind farms.

– a close market for the electricity produced, and favorable state positions and legislation (eventual state incentives to renewables) may also be important elements.

For guidance on legal issues you may look for information in Windustry (in USA) and Wind Systems & Legal requirements.






See also:
Basics on Wind electric generators
Wind farms
Wind Maps and data
Stand alone systems
On-grid systems
Net metering
Turbines Power and size


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