Wind and Solar Land Leasing in Campbell County, South Dakota

The project has a current name, developer, and confirmed scale -- distinct from the 2018 proposal

The county hub describes a 2018-2019 dispute over a proposed roughly 39-turbine expansion of an existing 55-turbine, ConEdison-owned wind farm. That project has since moved forward under new ownership and a formal name: Campbell County Wind Farm 2, LLC, a subsidiary of RWE Clean Energy, proposing to construct an approximately 98.6-megawatt wind farm on land leased from participating landowners within an approximately 12,000-acre project area. The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) evaluated the project's request to interconnect with its existing Campbell County Substation, tiering its environmental assessment from the broader Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Programmatic EIS. WAPA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the interconnection request in April 2025 (DOE/EA-2062), concluding the proposed action does not significantly affect the quality of the human environment. For a buyer or landowner today, the operative facts are the 2025 developer and project description -- not the 2018 ConEdison-era proposal the earlier dispute centered on.

Concrete setback figures from the federal review

The project's own siting parameters, as described in the federal environmental review, include specific setback distances worth knowing if a parcel is anywhere in or adjacent to the roughly 12,000-acre project area: turbines are to be sited at least 5,280 feet (one mile) from an incorporated municipality, and at least 500 feet, or 110% of the turbine's total height (whichever is greater), from the centerline of a public road. These are the project's stated design parameters as reviewed by WAPA, not necessarily the full text of any Campbell County zoning ordinance -- the hub notes that the county's current, permanent zoning status was never confirmed following the 2018-2019 dispute, so a project-level setback commitment like this one may be the most concrete, current siting standard available for this specific project, independent of whatever the county's own ordinance status turns out to be.

What a landowner agreement here actually involves

Construction and operation depend on individual lease or easement agreements with participating landowners -- the project is built "on land leased from participating landowners," per its own project description, meaning turbine siting, access-road routing, and collector-line placement all depend on which specific parcels are under contract. One concrete, project-specific detail from the environmental review: gates are to be installed where new or existing access roads cross landowner fences, and require landowner approval -- a small but real example of the kind of operational detail (fence crossings, gate maintenance, livestock containment during construction) that belongs in a written agreement rather than a verbal understanding. As with any wind-lease agreement, a landowner should expect a lengthy contract covering term, payment structure (which can include per-turbine, per-acre, or capacity-based components), transferability if the land is sold during the lease term, insurance and liability allocation, and decommissioning responsibility at the end of the project's life -- and should have it reviewed by an attorney experienced in wind-energy agreements before signing, given how long these contracts typically run.

What to verify before treating a nearby parcel as clear of the project -- or a lease as bankable

1. Confirm current turbine and access-road siting for Campbell County Wind Farm 2 directly with the developer or through WAPA's published environmental-assessment materials -- a project boundary can shift between environmental review and final construction.
2. If you're a landowner being approached for a lease or easement, confirm whether the agreement is a lease, an easement, or an option, since payment timing and amount typically differ significantly between an active lease and a not-yet-exercised option.
3. Ask specifically about decommissioning obligations and who bears the cost of turbine and foundation removal at the end of the lease term.
4. If a parcel is near, but not part of, the project area, ask about noise, shadow-flicker, and setback distances that would apply to a non-participating landowner specifically -- these commitments can differ from the project's own turbine-siting standards.
5. Confirm Campbell County's current zoning and land-use ordinance status directly with the County Auditor or Commission, since the hub reports this as unresolved following the 2018-2019 dispute -- do not assume a project-level federal review substitutes for confirming local zoning authority over the parcel.