Wind Leasing in Neosho County, Kansas

Neosho County already hosts a 300-megawatt wind farm, Neosho Ridge Wind, and the terms of its existing landowner leases and county payments are publicly documented. But the county has also run an annually-renewed moratorium since shortly after that project's approval that blocks any new commercial wind or solar project from using county roads or resources -- meaning a fresh lease offer here runs into a real, current legal obstacle, not just local sentiment.

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

What an existing Neosho Ridge Wind lease and county payment actually look like

Neosho Ridge Wind, developed by Apex Clean Energy and now owned by The Empire District Electric Company, is a real, currently operating 300-megawatt project near Galesburg. Reporting from the project's approval period documented the actual financial terms on both sides. On the landowner side, Apex paid participating Neosho County landowners $5,600 per turbine sited on their land, plus an ongoing royalty of roughly 2% of monthly revenue based on megawatts produced, net of a specified list of monthly expenses and fees -- real, sourced numbers rather than a generic 'wind leases pay well' statement. On the county side, because Kansas law exempts new wind turbines from property taxes for their first ten years, Apex agreed to a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes (PILOT) arrangement paying the county $2,000 per installed megawatt annually during that exemption period -- on a 300 MW project, roughly $600,000 a year -- with the first roughly $1 million installment tied to the project reaching substantial completion.

Those figures describe one specific, already-negotiated project and shouldn't be assumed to carry over automatically to a new deal -- turbine-lease and royalty terms are negotiated per project and per developer, and market rates have moved since Neosho Ridge Wind was signed. But they're a genuine, sourced starting benchmark for a Neosho County landowner evaluating what a wind-lease offer should look like, which the hub's coverage of the project's road-damage dispute doesn't address at all.

The bigger obstacle: an annually-renewed moratorium on new projects

The more important fact for anyone hoping to sign a NEW wind or solar lease in Neosho County today is that the county has kept a standing moratorium in place since not long after Neosho Ridge Wind's own contentious approval process. A one-year moratorium halting further wind-generated-electricity expansion was passed around September 2019, and Neosho County commissioners have renewed it annually since -- Chanute Tribune reporting documents a renewal in June 2025, described by a sitting commissioner as consistent with 'previous renditions of this action in prior years.' The moratorium works by barring the county from approving the use of county roads, resources, or infrastructure for constructing any new commercial renewable-energy project -- a practical chokepoint that blocks a new wind or solar development even without a zoning ordinance to deny it outright (Neosho County still has no adopted county-wide zoning).

For a landowner or buyer, that means the realistic answer to 'can I lease my Neosho County land to a new wind or solar developer right now' is no, not without the county commission first declining to renew the moratorium at its next annual review -- a decision this research could not find any sign the county is moving toward, given the moratorium's now years-long, repeated renewal pattern and the county's own experience with Neosho Ridge Wind's road-damage dispute. Anyone approached with a new lease offer should ask the developer directly how they intend to get equipment and construction traffic onto the property without county road/resource approval, and should confirm the moratorium's current status directly with the Neosho County Clerk's office before assuming a lease can move forward on any particular timeline.

Wind Energy Leasing in Neosho County, Kansas

What an existing Neosho Ridge Wind lease and county payment actually look like

The bigger obstacle: an annually-renewed moratorium on new projects

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