On page 16 of The Old Farmer’s Almanac (2003) has this paragraph:
Okay; if you own property in an area that is good for generating wind energy, then I can see how you might be able to lease it to an electric company. But why wouldn’t the electric company just offer to buy your land? What incentive is there to lease it?
And a follow-on question: How do “clean air credits” work? I understand that polluters can buy “clean air credits” so that they can continue to pollute (and the seller cannot). Who gets “clean air credits”? Are they distributed by the federal government? Can Joe Schmuck have a few acres and say, “Mr. Government Man, I want to have credits alloted to me so that I can pollute.”? And then does the government say, “Okay, you can create X units of pollution annually. If you want, you can pollute less and sell your extra credits to PoisonCo.”? How exactly does that work?
Well if you haven’t noticed…most of the stuff in Farmers Almanac are beyond truth, I recommend you go to www.the oldfarmersalmanac.com for better info regarding you question.
One advantage to renting is not having the costs of property taxes, title search and transfer fees, closing costs, mortgaging, etc. Utilities didn’t like being in the real estate business in the NE.
Some utilities here in the NE have tried to break into the real estate market by developing land they own once earmarked for substations or power stations. Plans fall through, and then they hook-up with a developer. However, the whole mess gets more complicated for them to recoup their money dealing with so many issues from zoning to environmental issues to who knows what next!
Basically, many utilities have learned to get out of the real estate business ASAP! - Jinx