Spatial Distribution of Estimated Wind-Power Royalties in West Texas

Abstract

Wind-power development in the U.S. occurs primarily on private land, producing royalties for landowners through private contracts with wind-farm operators. Texas, the U.S. leader in wind-power production with well-documented support for wind power, has virtually all of its ~12 GW of wind capacity sited on private lands. Determining the spatial distribution of royalty payments from wind energy is a crucial first step to understanding how renewable power may alter land-based livelihoods of some landowners, and, as a result, possibly encourage land-use changes. We located ~1700 wind turbines (~2.7 GW) on 241 landholdings in Nolan and Taylor counties, Texas, a major wind-development region. We estimated total royalties to be ~$11.5 million per year, with mean annual royalty received per landowner per year of $47,879 but with significant differences among quintiles and between two sub-regions. Unequal distribution of royalties results from land-tenure patterns established before wind-power development because of a "property advantage," defined as the pre-existing land-tenure patterns that benefit the fraction of rural landowners who receive wind turbines. A "royalty paradox" describes the observation that royalties flow to a small fraction of landowners even though support for wind power exceeds 70 percent.

Introduction: The Continued Importance of Smallholders Today

“…Furthermore, Brannstrom and colleagues ( [65], this volume) push us to make space in the discussion for "family farmers and small ranchers" in the USA and elsewhere that may have increasingly more in common with traditional smallholders than with corporate farms and transnational agricultural conglomerates. Traditional family farms in the industrialized west are neither purely subsistence-oriented nor even remotely similar to smallholder land holdings in size alone.…”

“…These studies stretch us to consider that what makes a smallholder a smallholder is often more a state of mind or the result of complex power dynamics, than an easy definition related to the number of hectares in their individual land holding. First, geographer Christian Brannstrom and colleagues [65] use GIS and secondary data sources to study the spatial distribution of estimated wind power royalties in West Texas. Results reveal a "property advantage" and a "royalty paradox" when it comes to the unequal distribution of wind power royalties, where large ranchers seem to have a much greater advantage over small-farm cotton growers in the region.…”

Toward Participatory Management of Renewable Energy Resources (Wind-Farm) in Northeastern Brazil

“…High social acceptance of wind power is observed where payment of royalties and rents to landowners where turbines are sited and where positive economic impacts are visible (BRANNSTROM et al, 2011;SLATTERY et al, 2012).…”

“…But the efficiency (capacity factor) of turbines in coastal Ceará is considered very high in comparison with other world regions, especially during the dry period (FILGUEIRAS;SILVA, 2003). For example, in October 2015 wind turbines in northeastern Brazil reached a record with capacity factor of 86% (ABEEÓLICA, 2015a(ABEEÓLICA, , 2015b, while in Texas, USA, wind turbines have a capacity factor of approximately 30% (BRANNSTROM et al 2015).…”

“…Brazil, similarly to the USA (BOHN; LANT, 2009;BRANNSTROM et al, 2015), has strong fiscal incentives that help the development of the wind-power sector. As an example of the importance of these incentives to the Brazilian wind-power sector, Pires (2011) highlights the importance of the Renewable Energy Incentive Program (Programa de Incentivo às Fontes Alternativas de Energia Elétrica; Proinfa) for stimulating the market and using auctions starting in 2004 with the goal of increasing the role of renewable energy.…”