re: Talk to me about solar farms

I don’t know what company contacted you but if you are interested in doing this you should contact NextEra energy. They are one of the big players in the industry and have carried lots of sites to production. They know the ends and outs of putting in the bids to the power companies. Make sure to have a paid insurance policy that will take care of putting the land back to its original state at the end of or early termination of the lease. There will not only be lots of panels to dispose of but also an unbelievable amount of buried wire to contend with.
Solar energy costs more to produce but there are lots of big name companies with lots of assets that are willing to pay extra to say they are using renewable energy. Facebook and Google are the ones doing it in my area.
If they are looking for sites in your area then they already have a buyer for the energy and the different solar companies are scrambling to find land to start the approval process. They have to have the land tied up before they can make a proposal to the power company who will be delivering the power along their lines. You can sign an option agreement with a company and they will pay you a set amount for 4 years and if they win the contract they lease your land if not you keep the option money and are out nothing.
The solar companies biggest hurdle after finding a farm is securing right of ways to get the power to the transmission lines. The closer your land is to the lines the more leverage you have.
Something to think about is the soil type of your land because a lot of these companies use chemicals to keep down weeds instead of cutting the grass around the panels if the land is sandy and on steep slopes there will be lots of erosion on your farm.
The best option would to come up with a number to sell them the land then you do not have to worry about who is responsible for the cleanup of the land. My guess is that none of these leases will go 20 years because of emerging technologies so an outright sale is probably safer.
They will pay 8-10 thousand an acre for land for solar farms.
And remember to research the company making the offer and ask them how many sites they have up and running. Your neighbor is getting the same offer for their land so being with a company that has experience in actually developing these sites puts you at an advantage.
Good luck it is a really big decision to make with a piece of property.