I am a mineral rights owner only in Brazoria County. A company has offered $ 200.00 an acre for 16 acres of mineral rights to lease for a possible solar farm. That has been no activity on this mineral right in over 30 years. Is it reasonable to ask for something on a yearly basis per acre to be paid if developed? The offer is 25% down and if developed into a solar farm, the balance of $2400.00 is to be paid. If not developed, then I keep the 25% $800.00. I would appreciate any feedback.
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Do you need mineral rights or surface rights for a solar farm ??
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I have 16 acres of mineral rights . I have no surface rights. Thanks
I remember reading something about solar farm’s damaging the potential for the mineral estates development. Someone else here should be able to chime in on that.
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Thank you. Any advice is very much appreciated
And a PS - do consult an expert. Maybe you can get a royalty based on montlhly electricity production.
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Thank you for the advice
My first post is waiting for approval. The postscript will make more sense when approved.
You are correct about solar affecting mineral interests.
No activity in 40 years. the same could be said about Tarrant and Johnson counties before horizontal drilling was developed.
Should you lease your minerals to the solar farm developer then how long is the lease they are contemplating? Normally a lease is for 3-5 years with an option to extend if there is no drilling or production.
For sake of argument, if should some “new” mineral is found in your area, your minerals will be tied up by the lease. The solar company has control of them and they can enter into any deal that benefits them and not you.
A lot more information from the developer needs to be gathered.
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I’m no expert but from what I have read solar farms want a lease on the mineral estate as well as surface because the mineral estate is dominant . They do not want an O&g company using the surface where they have put a sizable investment of solar panels. Get as much information as possible before making any decisions.
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I agree. A lot of information is needed. Thank you for your input. I suspect it could be a 20 year lease or longer if the solar farm is constructed. If it is not then it should be in the paperwork.
Yes, I am waiting to receive the agreement. I did ask for an annual payment and that was immediately turned down. I have lots of questions but as I told the company who contacted me I want to look over the agreement once I receive it and get the details.
Thank you for your input.
Solar farms have to secure rights from both the surface and mineral estate owners (IN TEXAS)1 The mineral owners should have road, pipelines designated right of ways and well pad locations in the lease. I had a friend who’s family owned only the minerals on about 2,000 acres. They lease their mineral rights for the solar farm use for $500/ net. mineral acre ONLY for the solar farm use. They still have the rights to lease the minerals for oil and gas production. There is a lot of this going on all in East Texas.
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Thank you so much for the insight
Great idea about the royalty production.
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I did reach out to my local provider who built a very small solar farm where I live and all they would say was anything they did locally is confidential information even if my mineral rights were 400 miles away. They could not provide any information on anything they did when they built the solar farm where I live. As of today, still waiting for an agreement to arrive.
When they leased their 2,000 acres of mineral rights to the solar farm company they designated several drill sites, pipeline right of ways and road right of ways also. These solar farm operators are leasing where a “major” power line is near or passes through the sight in order to sell any electricity produced. I would say that a solar farm will decrease the value of any real estate near it. It’s an eye sore! Just like the wind turbine farms.
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In my view the consideration of $200 per acre is woefully insufficient. You may want to explore overriding royalty on electricity produced. They probably won’t give that. Visit with an attorney in the area.
This post is not legal, tax or investment advice. Reading or responding to this post does not create an attorney/client relationship.
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Thank you for your imput. It is greatly appreciated. I did request an annual payment if the farm was to be built after their exploration and that they immediately turned down. Thank you
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Sounds like some boll weevil offering to take your minerals off your hands. In my opinion any "real OG attorney OR Solar attorney would die laughing at the offer.
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