Review the lease before you sign
The whole document, not just the rent line — every clause that touches your land and your value.
Wind, Solar & Battery Energy Leases
Wind, Solar & Battery Energy Leases in Central Illinois
A developer hands you a lease, says the rent is good and the neighbors are signing, and asks for a signature. Slow down. These leases can run thirty to fifty years — long enough to bind your children and whoever buys the ground after them. The first draft is written for the developer, not for you.
Understanding. Answers. Direction.
A wind, solar, or battery-storage lease can run thirty to fifty years — longer than you'll own the farm, and long enough to bind your children and whoever buys the ground after them. The first draft is written for the developer, not for you.
At Marvel Law, we represent the landowner. We read these leases before you sign, explain in plain terms what each clause does to your land and your family, and negotiate the points that matter. We come from a farming family, so we understand both the income these projects can bring and the operational headaches they can cause.
What we do for you
We work for the landowner — on every line of the lease.
Before you sign a developer's offer, we make sure it protects your land, your operation, and your family.
Negotiate the terms that matter
We explain the option period and what the developer can and can't do during it, and negotiate to protect your interests.
Pin down decommissioning & your land
So you aren't left with the cleanup — and we protect your drainage tile, field access, and crops.
Coordinate with your bigger picture
Mortgage, title, taxes, and succession plan — plus the county side, so the lease doesn't trip up a future sale, gift, or loan.
Built for Illinois landowners
What we look for in an energy lease
These deals have terms that catch unprepared landowners off guard. A lease negotiated with these in mind is worth far more than a signature on the developer's first draft.
Option period versus lease term
Most of these deals start as an option: for a set number of years, the developer pays a smaller per-acre amount to study the site and decide whether to build. Only if they exercise the option does the long-term lease — and the real rent — begin. We make sure the option period is reasonable, that option payments are fair, and that you're not locked up for years at low rent on a project that may never get built.
Rent and escalation
Rent structures vary widely: per-acre, per-megawatt, per-turbine or per-panel, or a share of revenue. Whatever the formula, a thirty- to fifty-year lease needs a built-in escalator so the payment keeps pace with inflation. A flat rent that looked generous in year one is a bad deal by year twenty. We also look at how and when you're paid, and what happens if the project is sold to another company.
Decommissioning and financial security
When the project's life ends, who tears it down and restores the ground — and who pays? You want a binding decommissioning obligation backed by real financial security (a bond, escrow, or surety), so the cost doesn't fall on you or your heirs if the developer is gone or bankrupt. Illinois law sets a floor here: under the state's 2023 siting standards (Public Act 102-1123), decommissioning and financial-assurance requirements are tied to the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreements (AIMA). We make sure your lease meets or beats that floor.
Setbacks, drainage tile, and crop damage
This is where a farm operation lives or dies. We look hard at:
- Setbacks — distance of equipment, roads, and collection lines from your buildings, property lines, and the ground you'll keep farming.
- Drainage and tile — a developer's trenching and roads can wreck a tile system. The lease must require the developer to repair damaged tile, restore drainage, and pay for losses — and to do it on your timeline, not theirs.
- Crop and soil damage — payment for crops destroyed during construction and maintenance, topsoil segregation and replacement, and removal of rock and debris.
- Access roads and field interference — where roads go, how wide, and how they affect the way you farm the rest of the field.
Mortgage, title, and subordination
If your land carries a mortgage, your lender's lien may sit ahead of the developer's lease — which the developer's financiers won't accept. They'll ask for a subordination or a non-disturbance agreement. These can affect your loan and your title, so they have to be handled carefully. We coordinate the lease with your lender and confirm the title work.
Taxes
A long-term energy lease changes the tax picture — income tax on the payments, possible effects on the property's assessment and your farmland classification, and questions about who pays any new tax on the project improvements. We make sure the lease puts those burdens where they belong and flag anything that could raise your own property taxes. (If your assessment jumps, see our Property Tax Appeals page.)
How it fits your farm succession plan
These leases outlive the people who sign them, so they have to be woven into your estate and succession plan. We make sure the income lands in the right entity, that the lease doesn't conflict with a planned gift, sale, or buy-sell, and that your heirs inherit a clean, well-understood agreement instead of a surprise. (See Farm Succession.)
County ordinances and land-use approval
Beyond the lease itself, a commercial wind or solar project needs land-use approval. Illinois standardized this in 2023: Public Act 102-1123 set statewide siting standards — covering setbacks, height, sound, shadow flicker, drainage, and decommissioning — and limited how restrictive a county can be when it regulates these facilities in unincorporated areas. Counties still adopt their own ordinances and run the permitting and special-use process within those limits. We help landowners understand the county rules that apply to their ground and how the approval process affects what the developer can build — and when the rent actually starts. (See Land Use & Zoning.)
The Marvel Law approach
We work for the landowner, never the developer.
Our job is to make sure you understand what you're signing, that the lease protects your land and your family across its full term, and that you negotiate from a position of knowledge rather than signing the first draft because the neighbors did.
Richard T. Marvel — bio, credentials, and bar admissions appear on the About/Attorney page. [Note his farm-family background and his experience as both a litigator and a transactional attorney, which informs how we negotiate and draft these long-term agreements to prevent future disputes.]
"A developer's first draft is written for the developer. Our job is to write the rest of it for you." — The Marvel Law approach
A landowner's checklist
What to check before you sign
| Lease term | What to watch for |
|---|---|
| Option period | Length, payment, and what the developer may do before exercising |
| Rent & escalation | Formula, inflation escalator, payment timing, assignment to new owners |
| Decommissioning | Binding removal obligation backed by bond/escrow/surety |
| Drainage & tile | Repair, restoration, and loss payments on your timeline |
| Crop & soil damage | Payment for lost crops, topsoil segregation, debris removal |
| Setbacks | Distance from buildings, lines, and the ground you keep farming |
| Mortgage/title | Subordination and non-disturbance handled with your lender |
| Taxes | Income, assessment, and farmland-classification effects |
| Succession fit | Income in the right entity; no conflict with gifts or buy-sell |
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
No. The first draft favors the developer, but these terms are routinely negotiated — rent escalators, decommissioning security, tile repair, setbacks, and assignment language all move when a landowner is represented. "Standard" usually means "standard until someone pushes back."
The option is a shorter period where the developer pays a smaller amount to study your site and decide whether to build. The long-term lease and the real rent only begin if they exercise the option. We make sure you're treated fairly during the option and not locked up for years on a project that may never happen.
That should be the developer — and the lease should back the obligation with real financial security so the cost never lands on you or your heirs. Illinois ties decommissioning standards to the Department of Agriculture's mitigation agreements; we make sure your lease meets or exceeds that protection.
Yes, significantly. A lease that runs thirty to fifty years binds the next generation. We coordinate it with your succession plan so the income flows to the right place and the lease doesn't disrupt a planned gift, sale, or buy-sell. See our Farm Succession page.
Where we serve
Based in Bloomington. Serving central Illinois landowners.
From Bloomington (McLean County), we represent landowners across Central Illinois, including Bloomington-Normal, Lincoln, and the surrounding counties where wind, solar, and battery projects are being developed.
McLean, Logan, DeWitt, Woodford, Peoria, Champaign, Macon & surrounding counties
Related practice areas: Farm Succession · Land Use & Zoning · Property Tax Appeals
Related reading: The importance of farm succession planning