Solar Farm/Leases

[766 Man]

1 hour ago, Reichow7120 said:

Even with wind you are going to end up with stuff left.

They have been poking around here too. Apparently we are in the path of some major wind project for DTE. So the landman have been hitting the area trying to sign leases.

One thing and this was right from the landmen's mouth. That big concrete pad. It isn't all going away. They take it down to about 4 ft below the surface and cover the rest. Same with the cables in the ground. Once its there, its there. Though to be fair so is oilfield pipelines. Unless the owner pulls them yourself. It stays there. Grew up in the waning days of the Scipio Albion oilfield so I know how the game is played. 

  And you know someone (or two) someplace will attempt a housing development in the brownfield of a wind or solar project.

[Illini986]

As others have said, be very careful and find a well qualified lawyer to go over anything and everything. 

My uncle has a landlord who was eventually worn down by one of the solar companies. He finally gave in and signed a lease for thirty acres, his justification being that he, "wanted guaranteed money for his grandson."; apparently renting to the same guy that's been farming the ground for the last thirty some odd years wasn't enough of a guarantee. 

At any rate, the lease isn't even two years old yet and the company has been bought out twice. A shell game if there ever was one...

[iowaboy1965]

1 hour ago, Illini986 said:

As others have said, be very careful and find a well qualified lawyer to go over anything and everything. 

My uncle has a landlord who was eventually worn down by one of the solar companies. He finally gave in and signed a lease for thirty acres, his justification being that he, "wanted guaranteed money for his grandson."; apparently renting to the same guy that's been farming the ground for the last thirty some odd years wasn't enough of a guarantee. 

At any rate, the lease isn't even two years old yet and the company has been bought out twice. A shell game if there ever was one...

This right here. They will claim bankruptcy, sell the company ect. And no matter what lease you started with. 2 or 3 bankruptcy/sell outs later after your ground is covered you will end up with whatever the latest owner offers. That and from what I've read solar panels break down over time and leach hazardous chemicals into your ground. So if you care about the land (or future land owners) and its future at all just say no to any of these ponzi schemes!

[cjf711]

2 hours ago, sandhiller said:

If these were the money making opportunities they claim, these companies would swoop in and buy the land themselves (a very minimal part of the total investment). 

Nope, they are looking for a sucker to stick

**SCAMMER ALERT**

Run away and send lead behind you as you go

We are still fighting those damnable wind turbines in Cherry Co. 

They have deep pockets to stay in the fight as long as they have. 

There ain't no free money, work for it honestly and sleep at night

This is what I told the one guy who came around.  Im like,  Ok,  land is going for about 12k   so if you want some you will need to offer a premium to that,  say, 15k an acre then you can own it right?  That way  I could get my money and make my investments rather than taking such a small annual lease payment with uncertain outcomes.   Not that i want to sell as I have no intentions of doing so,  but,  If i had no blood in this land and just inherited it, then selling it to me seems like a better move than a lease.   

[Cdfarabaugh]

7 hours ago, Chester5732 said:

So you wouldn’t help add to someone else’s farm empire, but you would help add to some investors empire and risk being stuck with a huge clean up bill?  I must be missing something.  

If you want to be like that, how would you like the rumor of the diagnosis of your dad having dementia getting out and people calling to say "keep us in mind if you quit"........not a call of sorry to hear that, or call us if you need help.  F$%# them, I'll put it in solar panels and move away before I even consider that to just keep it and make nothing off it to say I have it.  

As I said 99% sure it won't happen, but the past 2 years have been full of suck.....

 

[Chester5732]

28 minutes ago, Cdfarabaugh said:

If you want to be like that, how would you like the rumor of the diagnosis of your dad having dementia getting out and people calling to say "keep us in mind if you quit"........not a call of sorry to hear that, or call us if you need help.  F$%# them, I'll put it in solar panels and move away before I even consider that to just keep it and make nothing off it to say I have it.  

As I said 99% sure it won't happen, but the past 2 years have been full of suck.....

 

My family has been on this place for 154 years. I would give it away to a friend before I would lease it to corporate anybody. 

[766 Man]

39 minutes ago, Cdfarabaugh said:

If you want to be like that, how would you like the rumor of the diagnosis of your dad having dementia getting out and people calling to say "keep us in mind if you quit"........not a call of sorry to hear that, or call us if you need help.  F$%# them, I'll put it in solar panels and move away before I even consider that to just keep it and make nothing off it to say I have it.  

As I said 99% sure it won't happen, but the past 2 years have been full of suck.....

 

  Sadly, the days of neighbor helping neighbor are long into the past.  Even see that with the Mennonites.   But it would suck worse to have the state hunting for you to force a cleanup.  Farmers here have made stands against the federal government, state government, local government, etc. and seldom have I heard anybody say that it is worth it.  Don't let a headful of emotion create a lifelong problem.  

[catman13]

and i herd today that the chinese have buried bugs in the solar crap that can be used to remotely shut them down

[supermpuller]

my county has a windmill  ordinance, it took the county commissioners  and co. lawyers over 2 years to complete.   Wind mill companies  don't like it  because it's bulletproof. If they don't comply they don't get a permit to build a wind mill farm. Several other counties are using a version of this ordinance. I would hire a local  lawyer to help you out  to understand your options. Many farmers are signing a leasing there land , there paying good money  and most farmers have no intentions   to putting a windmill on there farm because  they won't  sign  a long lease.

[cm228]

If solar is so good why aren’t they putting them on all of the mega warehouses first before taking away more farmland. There’s enough being taken by the warehouses anyway. 
 

Just my 2ct

 

Matt

[Chester5732]

3 minutes ago, cm228 said:

If solar is so good why aren’t they putting them on all of the mega warehouses first before taking away more farmland. There’s enough being taken by the warehouses anyway. 
 

Just my 2ct

 

Matt

I have said the same thing about the roofs of all the machine sheds across the country. 

[SONNY]

Make them buy the land for 10 times its actual value and watch them scream!!! LOL!!

[Farmall1066]

Think of solar panels like snow.  The white of snow reflects the heat of the sunlight back up, why it gets cold when we have snow pack.  Look at the solar panels now, shiny face following the sun all day, is it creating more heat, or reflecting the heat of the sun back up.  Will these big solar farms create weather problems? I’m thinking they will, and they are the ugliest things to look at.  
Also if you put them on your land and a storm comes through damaging them, who’s responsible? I don’t see the solar companies wanting to spend more to repair something that they are paying a lease on.  I think they will walk away, and tell you it’s your responsibility to fix or demo.  Not enough in my area yet to know the horror stories, thankfully! 

[ComancheStarFarms]

As with most things - there are folks who are truly experts.  These folks work their specialty every single day, year in & year out.  Most of us encounter these special situations only once (or a small handful times) in our lifetimes.  Easy to not understand what we’re doing when negotiating with an expert.  And then our defensiveness begins to blame others.  Good bedside manner doesn’t equate to great competence.  This holds true for teachers, welders, neighbors, physicians, accountants & lawyers.  Just because “he’s such a nice guy” or “she’s a sweetheart” doesn’t guarantee professionalism in handling “your” situation.  When it comes to solar power “farms” my recommendation is to turn to Counselor Brent Stuckey for legal advice.  He sure worked for me - to such a strong extent that many of the horror stories above could have been easily avoided.  And a fair return could have been reaped.

[Jacka]

I had a offer,actually 2 contracts.I had my lawyer look over them.Up front looks good,income for 25 years.They were going to pay me $1700 acre, fence it and I would be able to graze the land.My lawyer added a lot of stipulations and they agreed to every one of them.I added stuff I wanted,no problem.I was well protected if they went belly up.I and my wife however said no after a lot of thought.I didn't want to look at them every day.I didn't want someone to basically own my land for the rest of my life because that what it really is.I worked hard for it,my wife worked hard and didn't want to give up our privacy. I also didn't want to do that to my farm.Now if it was some junk timbered off mountain ground or coal strip mine yes have at it.I don't have anything against any farmer doing it but it wasn't for me. 

I am really glad I didn't sign as soon as they showed up at my door.Take your time to think about it,you will be glad you did either way. 

[vtfireman85]

It’s not just solar farms with no follow through on contract obligations. This flag pole is a cell tower. I was on the board when it was put here, at the time it had to be approved by the town, there were choices as to what type of tower, “landscaping”, etc. as part of the contract Verizon is responsible for maintaining the flag. They end up replacing the flag every few years, but it becomes tattered, torn and a real disgrace for many, many months before they finally show up to fix it. This last time they seem to have decided to just remove it. 
The biggest issue is that no one has any way of contacting the company about it, no matter what number you get you just get a run around about having to try some other entity, the whole thing is like a MASH episode, getting sent on a telephone goose chase. 
Memorial Day is a week away and here we have a bare flagpole which everyone who sees it, and is uninformed blames the town for. 

[bitty]

The only solar panels that make any sense to me is on existing roofs or over top of parking lots. The parking lot is actually a benefit of the shade that would be produced from the panels. Definitely the panels are going to be very expensive to pay for removal after the useful life was met , possibly the first big hailstorm even would wipe them out. It's a hard NO on my ground for any of these things 

[Alan Dinan]

56 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said:

It’s not just solar farms with no follow through on contract obligations. This flag pole is a cell tower. I was on the board when it was put here, at the time it had to be approved by the town, there were choices as to what type of tower, “landscaping”, etc. as part of the contract Verizon is responsible for maintaining the flag. They end up replacing the flag every few years, but it becomes tattered, torn and a real disgrace for many, many months before they finally show up to fix it. This last time they seem to have decided to just remove it. 
The biggest issue is that no one has any way of contacting the company about it, no matter what number you get you just get a run around about having to try some other entity, the whole thing is like a MASH episode, getting sent on a telephone goose chase. 
Memorial Day is a week away and here we have a bare flagpole which everyone who sees it, and is uninformed blames the town for. 

Put a sign up with Verizon name and phone number to call for new flag.

[Alan Dinan]

I’ve received 2 letters in the last year or so from someone in Louisiana that wants to buy or lease my 30 acres for solar. They went straight into the circular file.

[vtfireman85]

18 minutes ago, Alan Dinan said:

Put a sign up with Verizon name and phone number to call for new flag.

If I had a phone number, I would be calling it. 

[Matt Kirsch]

31 minutes ago, bitty said:

The only solar panels that make any sense to me is on existing roofs or over top of parking lots. The parking lot is actually a benefit of the shade that would be produced from the panels. Definitely the panels are going to be very expensive to pay for removal after the useful life was met , possibly the first big hailstorm even would wipe them out. It's a hard NO on my ground for any of these things 

Parking lots would be a disaster. When people can't avoid hitting the ONLY light pole in the middle of a wide-open parking lot, what makes you think that the support structure for solar panels is going to be safe? That's not even considering people ignoring the height signs and trying to drive their 12' tall RV under an 8' overhead clearance.

Honestly though, was anyone expecting any positive comments about solar in THIS group?

[vtfireman85]

4 minutes ago, Matt Kirsch said:

Parking lots would be a disaster. When people can't avoid hitting the ONLY light pole in the middle of a wide-open parking lot, what makes you think that the support structure for solar panels is going to be safe? That's not even considering people ignoring the height signs and trying to drive their 12' tall RV under an 8' overhead clearance.

Honestly though, was anyone expecting any positive comments about solar in THIS group?

It’s creating a lot of jobs installing it, and it will create a lot of jobs to decommission it. 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

2 hours ago, vtfireman85 said:

It’s not just solar farms with no follow through on contract obligations. This flag pole is a cell tower. I was on the board when it was put here, at the time it had to be approved by the town, there were choices as to what type of tower, “landscaping”, etc. as part of the contract Verizon is responsible for maintaining the flag. They end up replacing the flag every few years, but it becomes tattered, torn and a real disgrace for many, many months before they finally show up to fix it. This last time they seem to have decided to just remove it. 
The biggest issue is that no one has any way of contacting the company about it, no matter what number you get you just get a run around about having to try some other entity, the whole thing is like a MASH episode, getting sent on a telephone goose chase. 
Memorial Day is a week away and here we have a bare flagpole which everyone who sees it, and is uninformed blames the town for. 

Knock it over with a back hoe. Whoever is responsible for it will show up then. 

[Alan Dinan]

43 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said:

If I had a phone number, I would be calling it. 

Here’s the FCC number for complaints!!

[Chester5732]

1 hour ago, vtfireman85 said:

It’s creating a lot of jobs installing it, and it will create a lot of jobs to decommission it. 

No. They will just walk away.  They won’t clean up anything.