De Liefde Windmill, Sakura, Chiba, Japan - 20060417

Wind rights are rights relating to

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s and

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

. Historically in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

wind rights were manorial rights and obligations relating to the operation and profitability of windmills. In modern times, as wind becomes a more important source of power, rights relating to wind turbines and windmills are sometimes referred to as "wind rights".

Low Countries

Historically, "wind rights" (Dutch: ''windrecht'') referred to a tax paid by

miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

s in large parts of the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

before around 1800. The tax was paid on the "wind catch" (''windvang'') needed to turn a

, but it was often based on the windmill's output. Since a windmill in a ''

heerlijkheid A ''heerlijkheid'' (a Dutch word; pl. ''heerlijkheden''; also called ''heerschap''; Latin: ''Dominium'') was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. ...

'' was primarily the property of the lord (although leased out to a miller), wind rights were one way for a lord to discourage competition. In consideration for payment of this tax, the lord ensured that there were no wind obstructions around the mill by imposing a prohibition on buildings and high trees in the area. Another obligation imposed on residents was the "mill obligation" (''molendwang''), which required them to have their grain ground at the lord's mill. To a certain extent, this was another way for a lord to safeguard the income received from the mill. Because of these rights and obligations, windmills had to be identifiable. They each had a name, traditionally the name of an animal. An image of the animal was placed on the mill so that even the

illiterate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

would know which mill was which. In the Netherlands, wind rights and the mill obligations were ended around 1800 when a new constitution was introduced in the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...

. Similar concepts still exist in modern times. Since around 1973 the wind needed to turn a mill has been referred to as the "windmill

biotope A biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. ''Biotope'' is almost synonymous with the term "habitat", which is more commonly used in English-speaking countrie ...

" (''molenbiotoop''). An area of around a windmill is maintained as a "free zone" so that the windmill can have enough wind. For

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

windmills, ensuring that windmills have enough wind is the responsibility of the

water board A water board is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level (the Netherlands, Germany), w ...

(''waterschap'' or ''hoogheemraadschap''). However, this seldom takes priority over the desire of municipalities to build new housing.

United States

In Minnesota, as a result of the increased interest in wind energy, developers or utilities purchase “wind rights" from landowners to allow the installation of one or more wind generators and an access road to the equipment in exchange for a payment to the landowner.
"Wind Rights to Private Land."
Minnesota Department of Commerce.

References

;Footnotes ;Citations {{reflist Windmills Wind power Rights Legal history of the Netherlands Law of the Netherlands Legal history of Belgium Law of Belgium