Sharing the wind

There is a growing need for regulation to govern conflicts over turbine siting to maximize energy production. Landowners today are increasingly selling or leasing to others the right to utilize the wind flowing across their land to generate electric power. If both landowners were to install their turbines, the wake from the upwind turbine would render the downwind one unprofitable. Unsure about who would prevail in a lawsuit over this wake interference problem, the upwind landowner might reasonably choose not to install any turbine in the border area. Existing laws fail to directly address neighbor conflicts over wind, so policymakers have an opportunity to devise efficient, equitable rules to govern turbine wake interference these disputes. The rule of capture thus led to wasteful drilling practices because landowners operating under the rule had an incentive to extract oil as quickly as possible to avoid forfeiting it to neighbors.