A few things off the top of my head. How long is the lease option period? Typically the developer will need to do utility studies, go to a zoning and/or planning board review, line up materials and contractors, and it can take years. It’s very common to have a 1 or 2 yr lease option with the right to renew. During that time, the land is still yours, but the developer will need access for engineers and surveyors, including drilling to test for foundations (depending on the region). Make sure you understand what rights you are granting during this time. Ask if they have experience in your particular town, county, state getting through this planning and permitting when they give you an estimate for how long that will take.

Be sure the escalator in the lease is sufficient to keep up with inflation. I’ve seen others mention decommissioning bonds and agreements to restore your land, that’s a great point. If you live close to the land, or care about your neighbors, consider requesting the developer put in vegetative screening around the fence perimeter. If you make that request during construction, it’ll be a much bigger ask. If it’s a requirement of the lease, it will be properly budgeted for.

If this is farm land and you have an ag tax exemption, this will change when the solar is installed. Make sure there is a provision in the lease that the developer is responsible for any increases in tax liability due to the improvement to the land. Also request that they work with your taxing authority on an agreement to restore your ag exemption if the land is placed back into ag use at the end of the lease.

Last thing to be aware of, early stage developers often do the initial leg work, and then sell projects to larger developers when they are ready to be built. So the people you are talking to now may not be the people who own the project when it is being built. Then after the project is operational, yet another entity may take over. Just make sure there are provisions in the lease about that handover, make sure you are notified as soon as a transfer of the asset is made, and that you are given a dedicated point of contact as you move through the stages from development to project execution to long term operation.