Recent landing in Galicia of speculators offering abusive contracts to landowners even without wind projects

• by OEGA
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Rural Galicia is losing activity as well as population. The boom in renewable energy could pose a turning point in this dynamic that would make communities and owners protagonists. Unfortunately, legislation to promote and authorize wind farms gives rural communities a marginal role with respect to wind developers.
The Galician Wind Observatory notes the arrival, in recent months, of income-seeking intermediaries who, with no wind project, intend to sign contracts bearing unacceptable conditions for rural communities: prices so low that they can be described as being ridiculously absurd; exclusive rights over all of the owners’ lands, not only over those of the wind farm area; grace periods reaching 10 years, and so forth. Several cases may be cited as examples of this situation: proposal in Verea and Celanova for a payment of 1,000 euro/MW; proposed easements in A Rúa and Quiroga with a unique lump-sum payment, among others.
Other positions abiding by the norms of greater corporate social responsibility cohabit along with these very speculative positions. Currently the best offers place the average payment at around 3,600-3,800 euro per installed MW, far from the ridiculous figures offered by the new intermediaries detected in rural Galicia.

The huge price difference discussed, and the existence of numerous clauses of importance to the parties, means that negotiation may serve to improve starting offers. As always, the GWO’s recommendations are: never be rushed to sign the agreement; look for all the information to understand the type of business they seek to develop in the locality; try to establish alliances with other owners, the council, as well as professional and social organizations; negotiate jointly with all the affected owners.
The Galician Wind Observatory is a defender of leases or surface right contracts, versus expropriation or sales, to link lands with wind farms. Experience tells us that leasing yields greater benefits to rural communities. Yet beware, the fine print must be read and one must try to adapt collective strategies to seek out the best conditions. Until the regulatory framework decides to make rural communities (owners of territorial resources in which such wind capital exists) the central actors in the use of renewable energy resources, the GWO will continue to work to strengthen the negotiating position of these communities and thereby establish a fairer energy transition.
More information on this may be found in the Guide, which has just been made public and may be accessed free of charge at this link.