FG Wind Farms article for NFU
Mark Newton of Fisher German’s Market Harborough Office is asked to write an article for the May Issue of the NFU’s Farmer and Grower Magazine on what to do if you are approached by a wind farm opperator. |
The telephone rings and a farmer says that he has been recommended to me as he wants advice about an approach that he has had for a wind farm. Apparently the wind farm company are telling him that he must sign their agreement within the next seven days, otherwise they will miss this year’s bird survey and they will then not proceed with the wind farm.
I ring the wind farm company and a lady answers the telephone, which does not sound as though it is an office but a private address. She hands over the telephone to her husband, who explains that he is the director of this wind farm company and in the background is the sound of pots and pans being washed! I ask for copies of their accounts over the last three years and there are lot of excuses as to why the accounts have not been produced. When I ask for the number of wind farms that they have actually built, again there are excuses. |
The above is a fairly typical example of approaches that farmers are receiving from purported wind farm companies. In practice, they are often only one or two man bands, set up and operating from their homes, pretending to be a large wind farm company. They put pressure on farmers to sign option agreements at well below market value in order that they can then try and sell the wind farm rights to a larger wind farm company. They can make substantial amounts of money, whereas the farmer has signed up to a really poor deal, which he is then locked into. In one case this was for a period of 50 years.
The correct procedure with wind farms is that the landowner will initially enter into a Letter of Intent, which gives the wind farm company exclusive rights to carry out what is known as “scoping” exercises to check the viability of the site. It is normally necessary to ensure that turbines are at least 600 metres from residential dwellings; that there will not be any interference with radar from adjoining airports and environmental issues will need to be addressed. They may also need to erect a wind speed mast. If they think the site is then going to be viable they will then wish to enter into a three to five year option agreement and a detailed lease will need to be negotiated at that time.
It is also important that all the financial issues are correctly negotiated otherwise many hundreds of thousands of pounds can be lost during the life of the scheme. There are very few surveyors with a lot of experience in dealing with wind farms and the wind farm companies should pay your legal and surveyors costs. If you are approached and would like advice, then contact Mark Newton at Fisher German, telephone number 01858 411215.
- Ashby de la Zouch
- 01530 412821
- Banbury
- 01295 271 555
- Knutsford
- 01565 757970
- Market Harborough
- 01858 410 200
- Newark
- 01949 851815
- Southampton
- 02380 883150
- Stafford
- 01785 220 044
- Worcester
- 01905 453275
