Compensation for Land/Property Owners Hosting a Wind Farm. The Italian Case

This paper deals with the problem of estimating the compensation for the expropriation or easement of land to be used as a wind farm and the infrastructure essential for its activity. Bear in mind that the construction of a wind farm requires the acquisition (through expropriation, or amicable agreement of the surface rights) of at least the land that must be transformed for the realization of the windmill support, while other land could be encumbered with easements. Areas identified by the ground projection of the blades are, in fact, affected by overflight easements, and all transport infrastructures linked to the wind farm generate easements (underground conduits or power lines). The issue involves many aspects and takes place in a changing regulatory framework. The case law, in relation to the frequency of cases (expropriation is certainly much more frequent than easements), has developed a well-established approach that makes specific reference to the expropriation of the entire property and not merely of the right of fruition. If one pays attention to urban planning, there is a profound difference between the two cases. In the case of easement, unlike expropriation, the procedure does not require a change in the urban destination of land. A land intended for agricultural use remains as such even if it houses a plant for the production of alternative energy. This, without a thorough analysis of the principles that underlie the decisions of the judges, could also lead to profound inequality in terms of compensation payments. The issue is therefore considered by trying to transfer those principles already established with regard to the expropriation of property, even in the case of easements, where in both cases the beneficiary is a private individual, who by virtue of the possession of land, reaps a profit.