Will prices for tracs of land increase under the growing pressure for Alternative Energy production? 

Large land purchases for Solar thermal have already happenned in the Mojave desert and outside of Las Vegas where new gigwatt facilities are being built with this well proven approach. 

T Boone Pickens has been leasing land tracs in West Texas for wind farm production.  The details of the offer to landowners from Mesa is a 50-year lease with two 20-year extensions, paying the landowner back for any damages they cause to the land. Also they will get 4-percent annual royalty the first four years of the contract, 4.5 the next four, and five percent from there after. Guaranteeing a minimum annual royalty of $4,500 per turbine.  Turbines per acre is very specific to the location.  Access to the power grid is key for these locations, but doing it Texas style (big), will assure this. Some older numbers from California support the land price increase;

In the Altamont Pass, near San Francisco, the use of wind power on farmland increased the value of that land from $400 per acre to $2000 per acre, while only reducing the available grazing land by 5% (Scientific American, Sept. 1990). This energy costs $0.075/kWh, though in some areas, due to greater wind power, the price is $0.05/kWh. http://www.geology.wisc.edu/geo411/hasselman.html 

Growing switchgrass on vacant or rotating farmland will hopefully be another driver of land prices.  This wonder crop can be grown just about anywhere.  The economics will require that you have access to roads and eventually switchgrass processing facilities.

Most options seem to be large companies leasing the rights to build on land.  The prices vary greatly, landowners need to be careful.  Guarentees usually mean some kind of fixed price arrangement.  ‘We guarenty you this much per acre’ with slow increases each year, seems like an advantageous arrangement for the company and not necessarily the landowner.  Kind of like a fixed annuity, which is not something I would invest in.  I want the upside when there is one, and would risk it for the downside. 

My list of most likely land price increases due to alternative energy;

Arizona, Nevada for Solar Thermal, close to big cities is key

South Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas for Wind farms.  South Dakota has been called the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind’

Iowa (limited upside due to Ethanol), Dakotas, Mississippi for Swithgrass 

Start tracking the prices now !