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OT sudden interest in leasing for solar farms in Michigan

M

mmidlam

Member
What is the story about solar farms...3 companies are trying to lease ground in the area. One company wants to put 6000 acres together. Is this happening in other states?
 
heard a guy say if farmers were getting 70 dallars a acre to lease ,solar would pay 400 dollars an acre........wow dewy
 
I've heard all kind of stories on prices. I don't believe any of them. There is one going in to the NE of the county been told they bought that ground for big money or what sure seems much more than it is worth to farm.
My concern is what happens to all the debris left from storm damage and when they are finally worn out in a few years. And of course when the subsidy wears out who is stuck holding the bag after the bankruptcy? They can't stand alone as a business without the government support.
 
Old boy, not too far from , a now retired school teacher, has his farm covered in solar collectors. He has owned the farm well over 35 years, and has tried just about everything he could think of to make his farm pay.. He grew crops, fed heavy veal, eventually switched to breeding and raising meat rabbits while renting out the crop land, and he said that was making the most $$. Then a solar company was buying the farm next door to him, and asked if he would be willing to lease his land to them. He was getting just over $100 per acre cash rent, they offered $500. Per acre, on 20 year lease, with the solar company picking up the property taxes. This seems to work for him.
 
1500 acre solar farm trying to go in southwest wisconsin. Local township voted to
pursue by slight margin. Now goes to county board. Have heard 30 year lease at 5-7
hundred per acre lease. Do not know how accurate these prices are. Some neighbors
not happy. The land is some of better ground in county will be interesting
 
Plant a tree to save the planet.
Take farm land out of production would be about the same as cutting down all the trees.

Solar farms don't remove CO2 and produce 02.
 
Solar??? Wind I could understand but solar? There ain't no sun in Michigan, mostly in the winter when you need power the most.
 
There are 2000 acres being built around me right now. They are paying $700 per acre per year for 25 years(with an option for 25 more) with an annual increase of 2%. In year 15 they are required to set up a bond for the estimated cost of removal or install new equipment which means they will go into the second 25 year term. These projects are being bought by the local power companies as they are closing several coal plants and the city people in Madison have said they will pay extra for green energy.I have never heard of an electric company filing bankruptcy so it should be a reasonably safe income. Much better than corn or beans. It is good land but with current prices we must have to much of that? At the end of the term they have to remove everything less than 4ft deep from the property so it should be able to back to ag. Tom
 
"They can't stand alone as a business without the government support." That may be why their called solar farms.

Today the regular farm economy would crash without an ethanol mandate, the corn market would be flooded with 6 billion bushels of unneeded corn that used to go into ethanol, corn farmers would suddenly shift production into other crops and livestock, flooding those farm markets too.
 
My buddy, a BTO in the county to the east, has met with at least one interested party. They are after one of his fields, 360AC contiguous, with a neighbor's 240AC field. Yep, 600acres with only two landlords (that is rare over here in the S West corner). His numbers were similar to those stated above, $5-700 per acre per year, 20 year lease. They clean up everything (per contract, at least).

He's 60, and doubts he'll care 20 years from now. If he finds himself unfulfilled with his remaining 1500 acres or so, there is more land around he could go after. Maybe his son farms that and he just helps. Or, he rents it all out and enjoys his grandkids.

I'm employed by a large electric utility. We are pushing more generation towards carbon-free sources, both wind and solar. We already have one solar farm here in MI, only 40 acres, and just announced several more our the Northern IN region.

I don't see these farm fields as premium sites for generation, with little or no distribution network nearby. The one IN site is right near the tollway, and makes better sense, but I suppose the lure of mile-square property is greater than the cost of poles and wires.

I think the utilities are reaching for more evenly-distributed generation, thus reducing the costs to move the electricity. Since there is no way to store current on grid-level scale (yet), a bunch of small sites may be better than huge ones. They are definitely pushing us to reduce the cost of our carbon-free generation.
 
Oops, I was thinking of wind farms. Today taking 2600 acres out of production would not hurt the market.
 
(quoted from post at 06:03:58 03/04/20) Solar??? Wind I could understand but solar? There ain't no sun in Michigan, mostly in the winter when you need power the most.
Click to expand...

Believe me, you do not want wind turbines either. Just talk to anyone who lives in Adams or Adair county Iowa. We are fighting to keep them out of Taylor county and Page county.
 
Well with those high prices being paid per acre of land I can see my electric bill doubling !
 
600 acres one going in right now 12 miles from me. I see it as good deal for all involved which one is my wifes uncles farm $700 plus acre ground is pure sand stuff, he is in nursing home. they clean up if goes to that
 
Until there is some way to store electricity made from wind or solar, it will not work. It's like Socialisms, fine until you run out of others peoples money.

Bill
 
I can tell you 3 different farms in my area that are in the process of setting up a solar farm. 950 - 1800 acres. There is already a 650 acre on up and going for I believe 3 years now. Two of these places the land is actually being sold to the company putting up the solar panels. The third is a lease type program. I'm in southern middle Tennessee on the Alabama line.
 
Have you looked at a peak load diagram? Mostly daytime, when offices and schools are open and in the summer when A/C is operating.
ie: Daytime supplement for 24 hour power plants.
 
Its surprising the solar guys don't set up shop in south side VA in places like Buckingham County they could buy cut over pulp land for less then they are paying rent in some places.Plus its close to densely populated areas and we get way more sun than Michigan I'd guess.
 
I have a friend that was offered 800 per acre, for 20 years. His property is right under a large
transmission line, running along I96. He told me that the price per watt on solar panels had come down
enough that having a seasonal setup was feasible. The highest electric usage in Michigan in n the
summer, when everyone needs air conditioning. There was some activity on a large gas fired electric
plant south of Fowlerville. But the activity has died down, I heard that the company was discussing the
amount DTE would pay.
 
A hundred miles away to close for me on wind power!!! Solar a hundred feet would be ok. I am 10 miles away from wind & that to close. When that corp. deals with locals to gain permission (corp.) will promise anything. In the next county the promise to help schools, slush fund to people selling their homes, pay residents not to complain.
What is wrong with this picture!!!
Led
 
The sudden interest, is directly tied to our new governor, and the appointees she has put in place, who are major wind and solar lobbyists. Payback for campaign donations clearly. These nut jobs think solar
panels on good farm land is a good idea. Why not put solar on all of the huge superfund contaminated sites across the state, the land is useless anyway, put your panels there, leave good farm land alone. The
entire thing is a ponzi scheme, the companies get rich, everyone else gets screwed.
 
(quoted from post at 06:29:04 03/05/20) The sudden interest, is directly tied to our new governor, and the appointees she has put in place, who are major wind and solar lobbyists. Payback for campaign donations clearly. These nut jobs think solar
panels on good farm land is a good idea. Why not put solar on all of the huge superfund contaminated sites across the state, the land is useless anyway, put your panels there, leave good farm land alone. The
entire thing is a ponzi scheme, the companies get rich, everyone else gets screwed.
Click to expand...

Solar panels need to installed on top of the buildings in cities. Much easier to tie into the grid. Wind and solar does NOT belong on our priceless farm land.
 
Maybe the sudden interest is because solar panel manufacturers are probably going broke. Don't know about Michigan, but we seem to get about one day of sun per week if we're lucky.
 
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