Wind & Solar Leasing in Howard County, IA

Howard County has hosted the Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm since 2008 -- a 300 MW project that has paid area landowners more than $27 million and now generates 14.5% of the county's annual budget through turbine property taxes. Here's what that track record means for a landowner considering a lease today.

This page covers what's specific to Howard County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

The Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm: scale, timeline, and payments

Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm is a two-phase, 300 MW commercial wind project spanning Howard and Mitchell Counties in northeast Iowa, developed and operated by EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA). It uses 182 Vestas V82-1.65 MW turbines and reached commercial operation in December 2008, making it one of the longer-running utility-scale wind projects in the state. According to EDP Renewables' own fact sheet, the project generates enough electricity annually to power the equivalent of roughly 86,000 Midwest homes, and has paid area landowners more than $27.2 million in lease payments through 2024.

The county-level fiscal impact is where this project's story becomes most relevant to a land buyer: wind-turbine property taxes generated $2.7 million in Howard County revenue in 2024 alone, accounting for roughly 14.5% of the county's total annual budget, and more than $24 million has been reinvested in local infrastructure -- rural schools, public safety, and road improvements -- since the project came online in 2008. That's a documented, publicly reported fiscal relationship between wind development and county services, not a developer's projection, and it's part of why Howard County has been cited by the Center for Rural Affairs, TriplePundit, and other outlets as a case study in how wind revenue can support a small rural county's budget.

What a landowner considering a lease should ask

If you own or are buying land in the Pioneer Prairie footprint or a similar wind-resource area of Howard County, the fact that a mature project already operates here is useful context but doesn't substitute for reading your own contract carefully. Confirm the lease's term length and any renewal options, the payment structure (a flat per-turbine annual payment, a per-acre payment, a production-based royalty, or some combination), whether "good neighbor" payments apply to land near but not hosting a turbine, and how access-road and underground collection-line easements are scoped -- these can affect land well outside the turbine pad itself. Given the small footprint reported for this project (about 98% of leased land remaining farmable), also confirm in writing exactly which acres are removed from your own agricultural use, if any, versus simply crossed by an easement.

Ask specifically about decommissioning obligations and any financial assurance (bond or escrow) backing them -- what happens to turbine foundations, cabling, and access roads at the end of the lease term or if the operator ceases operations early -- and how the lease interacts with any existing mortgage, farm lease, conservation easement, or estate plan on the property. Because we could not confirm Howard County's specific commercial wind-siting ordinance (setback distances, height and noise limits, and county permitting steps) through this research pass, request the county's current wind-energy ordinance directly from the Howard County Board of Supervisors before assuming a particular setback or approval process applies to a new turbine near your land, and have any lease reviewed by an attorney experienced with Iowa wind-lease agreements before signing.

Wind and Solar Leasing in Howard County, Iowa

The Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm: scale, timeline, and payments

What a landowner considering a lease should ask

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