In the renewable energy industry, where individual projects cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and securing land rights is the first step to commencing a multi-year development process, renewable energy developers are quick to commit to pay landowners premium prices to lease or purchase project land. That said, these commitments simultaneously subject the real estate to rigid restrictions and technical nuances and the liquidity of these properties is severely limited.
Renewable Energy Lease Specialists vs Generalists
Since land lease buyers from other industries simply don’t understand the intricacies of renewable energy leases, they are often unable to provide landowners with the ability to realize the true ‘paper value’ of their renewable land. Additionally, since typical lenders won’t finance development land, the value initially created by securing these project sites can quickly turn into capital intensive liabilities when land options near expiration.
At Madison Street Energy (MSE), we specialize in the acquisition and aggregation of existing renewable energy land assets. We’ve spent years developing utility-scale solar, wind and energy storage projects and realize the importance and irreplaceability of project land. This experience allows MSE to offer options for landowners to access the true value of their property and to provide a sophisticated bridge for developers to maintain project land rights without negatively impacting their development economics.
Differentiating between Renewable Energy Lease Valuations
It’s also important to point out that many participants in the land acquisition space are backed by a single source of capital with narrow investment criteria. Some of these groups use outsourced telemarketer type individuals that are encouraged to provide attractive offer prices in order to lock up as many acquisition opportunities as possible, only to then take several months to actually review the specifics of your transaction to determine if it fits their requirements. If your project doesn’t fit their specific “box,” they either walk away or offer a discounted “take-it-or-leave-it” price.
On the contrary, Madison Street Energy isn’t beholden to a single fund’s internal investment hurdles. In addition to immediately investing its own funds, MSE maintains relationships with the entire spectrum of institutional partners. As a result, MSE’s pricing reflects its ability to access a range of funding sources to find the one or more partners that place the highest value on your particular transaction, ensuring you receive the most competitive market price.
Conclusion
Madison Street Energy is a developer-led platform designed to provide liquidity where it is needed most. We personally work on every transaction and maintaining our reputation and relationships with landowners and developers is always our first priority. Whether you are a landowner seeking to unlock the value of a lease or a developer needing to bridge the gap to construction, we provide the expertise and institutional reach to ensure you get the market’s best price.