Wind lease terms vary quite a bit, but general rules of thumb are: $2,500 to $5,000 per turbine, $3,000 to $4,000 per megawatt of capacity, or 2-4% of gross revenues. Larger turbines should translate to larger payments. Compensation packages typically are offered as fixed yearly payments, as percentages of gross revenues, or some combination.

Wind turbines and wind projects come in many shapes and sizes. There are small turbines designed to supply electricity to a single house or farm. There are also large turbines that can provide energy for hundreds of houses. Wind projects can consist of a single large wind turbine, small clusters of large wind turbines, or even a hundred or more large wind turbines. These projects can be owned by utilities, wind development companies, farmers, local investors, or community entities like schools.

Wind is the fastest growing energy source in the world, expanding at a rate of 25-30% per year. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) estimates that, after installing over 2,400 megawatts (MW), the wind industry will install over 3,000 MW in 2007. Wind power will generate about 31 billion kilowatt-hours in 2007, enough to power 3 million homes.

Wind energy is the cheapest form of new electricity generation available today. Wind power is more expensive than power from old, established power plants, but is cost competitive with any new power plant.

The advantages of utility interconnection include having standard utility AC power when you need it, not just when the wind blows; eliminating the need for storing excess electricity in batteries, which can be expensive; and you only pay for the net electricity used.

The concept of net metering programs is to allow utility customers to generate their own electricity from renewable resources, such as small wind turbines and rooftop solar systems. The customers send excess electricity back to the utility when their wind system, for example, produces more power than needed. Customers can also get power from the utility when their wind system doesn’t produce enough power. In effect, net metering allows the interconnected customer to use the electrical grid as a storage battery. This helps customers get higher (retail) value for more of their self-generated electricity.

Wind turbines range in size from tiny micro turbines to enormous utility scale power production facilities. Large turbines may have blades that are over 40 meters long - meaning the rotor diameter would be 80 meters long - the length of a football field! The commercial-scale turbines are often placed on 80 meter towers, so the tip of the blades might reach as high as 160 meters (525 feet) in the air.

Smaller home- or farm-sized turbines usually have a rotor diameter of up to 15 meters (50 feet) and can be placed on 30 to 40 meter towers.

Our Scale of Wind diagram, depicts the different sizes of wind turbines and the generation capabilities.

Wind turbines come in many shapes and sizes, but here is a general guideline on how much they cost:

Wind developers buy the turbines from the manufacturers, lease the land to place the turbines, construct and operate the development, and sell the electricity to a utility or distribution company. As a landowner, your business role will be to negotiate a contract for the lease of your land to a wind developer.