Wind and Solar Leasing in Mercer County, North Dakota

2026: an active, dated rewrite of the county's wind ordinance

Mercer County's Planning and Zoning office prepared a specific draft document -- titled 'DRAFT 2 (SRF) - Mercer Co Wind Energy Ordinance' and dated June 10, 2026 -- ahead of a first reading before the county commission scheduled for July 1, 2026, bundled together with related zoning updates covering solar energy, data centers, and sand and gravel mining. Reporting indicates the commission approved amendments to the zoning ordinance around July 15, 2026. This is a live, dated regulatory process, not the same restrictive ordinance the county adopted after its 2020-2022 moratorium fight -- a buyer or landowner should treat any pre-2026 description of Mercer County's wind rules, including general summaries, as potentially out of date.

Mercer County Commission Chair Travis Frey has stated on the record that he supports reopening the county to wind development while trying to protect landowner, coal-sector, and tourism interests simultaneously -- a specific, sourced statement of the rewrite's intended goal, rather than a vague sense that 'the county is reconsidering wind.' That three-way balancing act (landowners who want lease income, the coal industry's transmission-infrastructure concerns that originally drove the 2020 moratorium, and tourism interests around the county's lakes and recreational areas) is the actual policy tension the 2026 draft is trying to resolve.

What to check given the ordinance is mid-rewrite

Because the draft ordinance was dated June 2026, had its first reading in July 2026, and was reportedly approved in amended form later that same month, the specific numeric setback distances and permitting requirements in the newly adopted text are exactly the kind of detail that can still shift between an early draft, a first reading, and final adoption. Get the final, as-adopted ordinance text directly from Mercer County Planning and Zoning -- not the June 10 draft PDF -- before relying on any specific setback or permitting figure for a wind or solar project.

Because the same 2026 ordinance cycle bundled wind, solar, data centers, and sand and gravel mining amendments together, confirm which specific section and effective date applies to solar leasing separately from wind leasing if that's the relevant use for your parcel -- a single commission vote adopting several distinct sections at once means the wind provisions and the solar provisions may not be identical in scope, setback, or permitting process even though they moved through the same meeting.

What to verify before signing a lease or assuming the old restrictions still apply

• Request the final, as-adopted 2026 wind and solar ordinance text from Mercer County Planning and Zoning, not the June 10, 2026 draft or any pre-2026 summary of the county's rules.
• Ask whether the new ordinance distinguishes small-scale or personal-use turbines from utility-scale commercial wind farm siting, since the commission chair's stated goal was reopening the county to development broadly, not necessarily to a single project size.
• If a lease offer or listing references the prior, more restrictive ordinance (the 2020 moratorium-era rules or the 2022 version), confirm directly whether that has since been superseded by the 2026 amendments.
• Confirm current setback distances for both a proposed turbine's distance from residential structures and from existing coal-industry transmission infrastructure, since protecting that infrastructure was the original driver of the county's restrictions and may still be reflected in the rewritten ordinance.
• Involve an attorney experienced in energy leases before signing any wind or solar agreement, particularly while the underlying ordinance has recently changed and case law or interpretation may not yet be settled.