What you should ask before choosing a renewable energy partner
You might only negotiate a renewable energy agreement once. The people sitting across the table do it for a living. Before you commit your land, understand whether the business approaching you has been engaged to find sites for a developer or to help you assess your own options. The distinction matters.
Here are some questions worth asking before you choose who to work with, and how RELA’s approach differs:
Who do you represent and how do you get paid?
Someone engaged by a developer to find sites is working to that developer’s brief. Before relying on their advice, be clear about whether their role includes representing your interests.
Ask anyone advising you whose interests they represent, who pays them and whether they receive referral fees or other payments connected to the deal. If they work for more than one party, ask how they manage competing interests. Are they helping you work out what’s right for your land or trying to secure your signature? Get clear answers in writing.
At RELA, landowners are our clients. We are independent of any specific developer, so our role is to help you assess your options and choose the right partner for your land. Our success-based model means you are not out of pocket, while giving you access to our specialist team throughout the process.
We encourage you to consider involving your own advisors at the right times, helping you get the advice you need to make informed decisions, while avoiding unnecessary costs and ensuring you get the best outcome from the process.
What counts as success?
If a fee becomes payable when you sign a land agreement, understand exactly what that milestone means. Does the service end there? What work remains before the project can proceed?
A signature does not guarantee construction. A prospective project still needs a credible path through technical assessment, approvals, grid connection and funding. The payments you receive, and when they begin, depend on your agreement.
Ask what has been checked, what remains uncertain and who is responsible for the next steps. You need enough information to judge the opportunity beyond the headline rent.
How will I know what the market can offer?
Ask which developers will be invited to consider your land and how proposals will be compared. What makes a particular developer suitable for your property? What evidence supports their ability to progress this project?
Compare the commercial terms alongside the proposed layout, the developer’s track record and their plans for the site. The highest rental figure deserves attention. So do the assumptions behind it and the conditions attached.
RELA Connect brings Australian and international renewable energy developers into a structured, competitive marketplace. We help prepare the opportunity, compare proposals and work through the terms. You select the preferred developer based on the offer, their track record and their plans for your land.
What matters to you?
Understanding what makes your location valuable to a developer can strengthen your negotiating position. But the rent on offer is only one part of the agreement.
The terms also determine how long your land is committed, what you can continue to do on it and what happens if the project changes or stalls. Be clear about your priorities before negotiations begin, and work through the terms with your own lawyer.
These decisions can affect your land and family for decades. The aim is an agreement that delivers a fair commercial outcome and allows farming and renewable energy to work alongside each other, with the next generation in mind.
Who will actually do the work?
Ask who will assess the technical opportunity, examine the economics and support the negotiations. You should know which specialists are involved and what each will do.
RELA’s team brings together renewable energy analysis, commercial and project finance experience, in-house legal expertise, technology and regional engagement. That means access to people who can examine the opportunity from several angles, while you retain your own independent lawyer.
Who is looking at the whole farm?
You know which gates stock use, water run-offs after heavy rain, and how much room machinery needs to turn. A project plan must contain that knowledge while there is still room to shape the design. A road in the wrong place is a liability. A road in the right place is an asset.
Ask how your farming requirements will be recorded and carried into the proposal and agreements. Include future plans too: a new shed, changed grazing arrangements, or the next generation taking over. Your farm will keep evolving.
RELA’s Landplan helps you map farming priorities, infrastructure and exclusions early, so they can inform the project conversation.
What am I actually paying for?
RELA Assess is free. RELA Connect fees are payable only on success, with no upfront fee. Ask us to explain precise success milestones, who pays, and when payment becomes due. Get the same detail from any provider you are considering.
If someone says the developer will cover your costs, ask which costs, up to what amount and whether that commitment is confirmed in writing.
Compare fees against a written scope of work. Ask what you could pay before an agreement is reached, what happens if the project stalls and which services are included. A fee for an introduction buys something different from assessment, competitive market engagement and support through negotiations.
What are you committing to?
Before you sign, have your lawyer explain the duration of any exclusivity, development milestones and your options if progress stalls. Understand who will handle questions or changes, and where each advisor’s involvement ends.
Ask about access during construction, impacts on farming and responsibility for removing infrastructure at the end of the project. These matters belong in the agreement before they become a problem on the property.
The Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner encourages landholders to obtain independent legal and other professional advice before entering commercial agreements. Bring your own advisors into the conversation early.
Your land. Your decision.
Before you commit your land, make sure you understand who is working for you, what you could pay, and what support you will receive.
Ask for clear answers in writing and work through the terms with your own trusted advisors. The right agreement needs to make sense for your land, your farming business, as well as your family’s future.
Get in touch with the RELA team, and learn how we’ve helped hundreds of landowners…