§ 2806.52 Annual rents and fees for solar and wind energy development.

You must pay the greater of either an annual acreage rent or a capacity fee. The acreage rent and capacity fee are determined as follows:

(a) Acreage rent. The BLM will calculate the acreage rent for your grant or lease by multiplying the number of acres of the authorized area (rounded up to the nearest tenth of an acre) by the annual per-acre rate for the year in which the payment is due.

(1) Per-acre rate. The annual per-acre rate for your grant or lease is calculated using the State per-acre value from the solar or wind energy acreage rent schedule, the encumbrance factor, the year of the grant or lease term, and the annual adjustment factor. The calculation for determining the annual per-acre rate is A × B × [(1 + C) ^ D] where:

(i) A is the state per-acre value from the solar or wind energy acreage rent schedule published by the BLM for the year on which your right-of-way grant or lease is issued and is based on the average of the per-acre pastureland rental rates published in the Cash Rents Survey by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) for the State in which the right-of-way is located over the 5 calendar-year period preceding the issuance or renewal of the right-of-way. The BLM will calculate the average using only those years for which rent is reported by NASS.

(ii) B is the encumbrance factor, which is 100 percent for solar energy and for wind energy an amount determined by the Secretary, but not less than 10 percent;

(iii) C is the annual adjustment factor, which is 3 percent; and,

(iv) D is the year in the term of the right-of-way.

(2) You may obtain a copy of the current solar or wind energy acreage rent schedule from any BLM state, district, or field office or by writing the address found under § 2804.14(c) of this part, Attention: Renewable Energy Coordination Office. The BLM also posts the current solar energy acreage rent schedule at http://www.blm.gov.

(b) Capacity fee.

(1) The capacity fee is calculated as 3.9 percent of the project's annual gross proceeds from the sale of electricity produced by the renewable energy project. The capacity fee is due annually in the calendar year following the year in which the electricity was produced.

(2) For projects that include generation on public and non-public lands, the holder will be prorated the total energy generation by the percentage of the right-of-way footprint on public lands relative to the total development area footprint.

[81 FR 92217, Dec. 19, 2016, as amended at 89 FR 25964, Apr. 12, 2024; 89 FR 35680, May 1, 2024; 89 FR 104890, Dec. 26, 2024; 90 FR 36114, Aug. 1, 2025]