Wind and Solar Leasing in Bowman County, North Dakota

Bowman Wind is operating, not proposed -- and landowner participation is already substantial

Bowman Wind, developed by Apex Clean Energy as a wholly-owned project subsidiary, became operational in 2025 as a 200 MW facility with 74 turbines sited close to Bowman and Rhame in western Bowman County. The project already holds more than 50 agreements with participating landowners, and its economics are built around a 30-year revenue structure intended to generate sustained payments to the county, local landowners, and local schools -- not a short-term construction windfall. For a landowner whose land sits inside or adjacent to the project footprint, this means the relevant question generally isn't whether the project will happen (it's built and operating), but rather the specific terms of an existing agreement or a new lease offer tied to the operating project.

A documented wildlife dispute shows the project's siting process is genuinely substantive, not a rubber stamp

The project's approval history is a useful signal of how seriously siting review is taken here: the North Dakota Public Service Commission's unanimous approval in February 2023 came only after state wildlife officials flagged two turbines sited roughly two miles from a documented greater sage-grouse mating lek, and the developer agreed to remove those two turbines as a condition of the siting permit -- a real change to the project's original layout (originally up to 86 proposed locations, ultimately 74 turbines built) driven by a specific, named environmental concern. For a landowner or nearby buyer, this history is worth remembering if a future project or expansion is proposed nearby: North Dakota's PSC siting process has, in this specific case, resulted in real turbine-count and layout changes based on wildlife findings, not merely a formality on the way to automatic approval.

North Dakota's decommissioning framework: no upfront bond required, but the state can require one after year ten

A landowner considering a wind lease -- whether for an expansion of Bowman Wind or a separate future project elsewhere in the county -- should understand how North Dakota actually handles the eventual removal of turbines, because the state's approach differs from what some other energy leases (like coal) require upfront. North Dakota does not require a wind developer to post an up-front bond covering future decommissioning and land-reclamation costs the way coal-mine operators must. Instead, North Dakota Administrative Code Chapter 69-09-09 gives the Public Service Commission authority to require a performance bond, surety bond, letter of credit, or corporate guarantee from a turbine's owner or operator after the turbine's tenth year of operation -- a 'may,' not a mandatory day-one requirement.

Separately, North Dakota's participating-landowner-agreement framework builds decommissioning enforcement into the lease itself: signing a participating landowner agreement generally constitutes the landowner's consent that the Commission may take action necessary to decommission the facility, and if the project owner fails to complete decommissioning, the Commission can act to complete it, including seeking forfeiture of any required bond. For a landowner evaluating a lease -- current or future -- ask directly what decommissioning obligations the specific agreement places on the developer versus the landowner, and whether any bond or financial-assurance requirement has been triggered or negotiated for the turbines on or near that parcel, rather than assuming a bond is automatically in place from day one.

What a landowner should verify before signing or relying on a wind-lease agreement

1. Confirm whether your parcel is already inside the Bowman Wind project's turbine layout, an associated easement, or a required wildlife or noise setback -- request the current site plan from Apex Clean Energy or the county rather than relying on an older map, since the layout changed between initial proposal and final construction.
2. Ask directly what decommissioning obligations the lease places on the developer, whether North Dakota Administrative Code's ten-year bonding trigger has been addressed in the agreement, and what happens contractually if the developer fails to decommission.
3. Review the lease's payment structure -- whether it's a per-turbine, per-acre, or production-based royalty, and how it's affected if a turbine on your land specifically is ever removed or relocated for a siting reason like the sage-grouse dispute that affected two turbines here.
4. If evaluating a new lease offer for a separate, future project rather than the existing Bowman Wind footprint, ask whether the same wildlife-habitat siting concerns (sage-grouse leks or other protected-species considerations) have been assessed for the specific parcel, given the documented precedent in this county.
5. Have an attorney experienced in energy leases review the specific agreement -- the general framework described here is North Dakota's regulatory backdrop, not a substitute for reviewing the actual contract terms on offer.