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What’s in your wind or solar contract?

An attorney specializing in farm business planning highly recommends getting legal advice before finalizing solar or wind contracts.

Michael Fraleigh of Michigan-based Fraleigh Law tells Brownfield contracts with aggregators, or someone trying to bring several landowners together in a project, can be concerning.

“You have to read the contracts very carefully to see what promises the aggregator made that they are actually going to follow the contract and become an obligation of the developer or the operating company,” he says.

Fraleigh says farmers should ask if they have a say in solar designs which would allow for ag production.

“If it’s being done in Europe, it could be done here,” he says.  “The bigger issue is, is there any flexibility on the developer’s part?”

Changing a farmland’s use could potentially move it into another property tax category and Fraleigh says an accountant and local assessor should also be involved in the process.