Wind and Solar Leasing in Carbon County, Wyoming

Carbon County's own WECS permit process

Wyoming law (W.S. 18-5-501 through 18-5-513) authorizes counties to adopt their own wind energy siting regulations, and Carbon County is one of roughly eleven Wyoming counties that has done so. A commercial Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) project in unincorporated Carbon County requires a Conditional Use Permit application through the Planning and Development Department, filed under both the Carbon County Zoning Resolution (Sections 6.1 and 6.2) and specific project resolutions the Board of County Commissioners adopts for individual projects -- the Rock Creek Wind Energy Project, for example, was authorized through Resolution No. 2021-42 following a Planning and Zoning Commission public hearing.

The application carries real, published costs: a filing fee of $300 per turbine plus a $100 notice fee, and the applicant -- not the county -- bears the cost of notifying every adjacent property owner within a 5-mile radius of the project's exterior boundary. That 5-mile radius is a genuinely large notification zone compared to a typical conditional-use permit, and it means a landowner well outside a project's actual footprint can still receive formal notice and a chance to weigh in during the county's review.

For a smaller, non-commercial WECS unit (the kind an individual landowner might install for their own use), the county's setback rule is a formula rather than a fixed number: the minimum distance between wind energy systems must equal at least 110% of the combined height of the tower plus blade length. A commercial-scale project's specific setback, noise, and shadow-flicker conditions are typically negotiated project-by-project through its Conditional Use Permit rather than set by one blanket county rule -- confirm current standards with Planning and Development for a specific proposal rather than assuming a non-commercial figure applies to commercial development.

Decommissioning: not optional, and worth asking about before you lease

Carbon County's WECS permitting process requires a decommissioning plan as part of project approval, addressing how turbines, foundations, and associated infrastructure will eventually be removed and the site reclaimed once a project reaches the end of its operating life. For a landowner considering a wind lease -- or a buyer evaluating land already under one -- the decommissioning plan and any associated financial security (bond or similar mechanism) are worth reviewing directly rather than assuming the developer will simply handle removal decades from now with no county-enforced obligation behind it.

Wyoming's wind generation tax: a real cost unique to this state

Wyoming is the only state in the country with a wind-specific electricity production tax: since January 1, 2012, wind generators have paid $1 per megawatt-hour of electricity actually produced, with a three-year exemption from the tax for a project's first three years of production. The revenue is split 60% to the county (or counties, apportioned, if a project spans more than one) and 40% to the state -- meaning a large wind project in Carbon County generates a direct, recurring county revenue stream on top of standard property taxes once its exemption period ends. There has been recurring legislative debate over raising the rate (proposals as high as $5 per megawatt-hour have circulated), so the $1 figure, while stable since 2012, is not guaranteed to stay fixed indefinitely.

This tax is separate from, and doesn't replace, whatever private lease payment a landowner negotiates directly with a wind developer for turbine siting, access roads, and transmission easements -- those terms are negotiated privately and typically confidential, so a general figure isn't available. If you're a landowner being approached for a wind lease, or buying land already under one, get the actual lease document and understand which payments (per-turbine, per-acre, or production-based) apply, separately from this state-level production tax that the developer, not the landowner, pays.

What this means before you lease or buy

1. If you own or are buying large acreage in Carbon County and a wind developer approaches you, confirm whether the proposed project already has a Carbon County Conditional Use Permit, or is still in the application and 5-mile-radius notification stage -- that tells you how far along the county-level approval actually is.
2. Get the actual decommissioning plan on file with the county for any project on or near land you're evaluating, not just a developer's verbal assurance about eventual removal.
3. Separately verify any existing transmission easement (such as one tied to the TransWest Express line) -- these are typically negotiated under non-disclosure agreements, so get the recorded easement document itself rather than relying on a neighbor's account of their own terms.
4. Understand that Wyoming's per-megawatt-hour wind tax is a state/county revenue mechanism, not your lease payment -- don't confuse the two when evaluating what a wind lease is actually worth to you as the landowner.