Who Are These Guys?

Chances are that you have already been approached by a renewable energy Developer in the last 6 months.  He walked into your office sunburned on the left side of his face and reminded you of Richard Dreyfuss from the movie Close Encounters of The Third Kind.  He wasn’t chasing aliens.  Instead, he had just spent long hours of driving around your county visiting every power substation and studying the adjacent topography.  You just had a close encounter of a renewable kind.  You may have also determined that he had deep capital investment pockets and handed you a business card with a linguistically manipulated name to imply energy combined with a force of nature.  He name dropped the most influential and largest property holders in your jurisdiction and was able to readily show you their property on a beautifully detailed 24”x36” aerial map.  He seemed to know quite a bit about your zoning regulations and infrastructure power grid.  Ultimately it dawned on you that he is already in negotiations with your who’s who, and paying them handsomely to be on his side for a span of years that will overlap the next voting cycle.  If you’re not interested yet, then you need to be.

These Developers are not just randomly picking your jurisdiction because they see a weakness in the zoning code or a great chance to exploit property values.  They are the first responders to two distinct, but intimately intertwined actions that have led them your area of influence.

The first and most sweeping action was the passing of the Federal 2016 Omnibus Spending Bill.  That legislation includes a 30% Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) until 2019, with reduced ITC’s down to 10% through year 2023. This ITC has made the cost of solar production reasonably comparable to carbon based fuels.  This extended ITC also gives Developers ample time to search for ideal solar plant locations and to see them through all the various Federal Regulatory, State and local zoning and permitting requirements, as well as a gamut of other environmental and engineering studies.  Similarly, the Omnibus Spending Bill also established a 100% Production Tax Credit (PTC) for all Wind projects that have commenced construction by the end of year 2016.  Further Renewable PTC’s are staged downward at 80% in year 2017, 60% in year 2018 and 40% in year 2019.  The cost of wind production has dropped dramatically over the last 5 years and this has lead Developers to look to less traditional areas like your jurisdiction for wind development.

The second impetus for renewable Developers visiting your area are the growing number of states that have passed legislation implementing Renewable Energy Standards (RES’s).  The RES’s mandate that Utilities derive a certain minimum percentage of their electricity from Renewable means such as wind, solar and biomass.  As a result of these mandates the Utilities are typically issuing RFP’s seeking certain   Megawatts (MW) of generation capacity.  The Renewable Developers are being directly responsive the Utilities and are actively bidding to provide a portion of the RFP MW amount.  Not all states have RPS’s, but the Developers are playing a long game and working to secure property in these areas as they watch promising Legislation and reading the sentiment of public opinion as it shifts favorably towards renewables

It is during the very earliest phases of development that you are becoming aware of this peculiar activity in your jurisdiction.  Landowners are starting to call you wanting to know what, if any limitations or requirements there are on their property in situations such as these.  You want to act with jurisprudence to establish some means of review process, but you may actually be building a regulatory wall that is harming future developments.  These projects represent millions in capital investment for your tax base, yet will be minimally burdensome to the community infrastructure post construction.

This is where Faulk & Foster can help.  Many ordinances and project review processes fail to take the latest developments into account.  Faulk & Foster can review your planning documents, ordinances and application materials to ensure they are up-to-date and consistent with current legal requirements.  Where needed, we can assist with ordinance amendment language, review standards, and form design.

Faulk & Foster can also serve as your third party consultant for project review support from pre-application guidance to post-construction inspection.  We’ll ensure each project review meets state and federal standards while leading to a design compatible with surrounding uses and consistent with ordinance standards and community planning goals

Just remember that you are not alone the next time some guy walks in your office with a partial sunburn, wrinkled clothes and expensive maps.  We know what these Developers are looking for and can help translate their plans into something beneficial to your community.