Worthwhile Wind, LLC v. Worth County Board of Supervisors

── Worthwhile Wind, LLC v. Worth County Board of Supervisors ── Court: Supreme Court of Iowa Date: April 24, 2026 Category: General In the Iowa Supreme Court No. 24–1813 Submitted December 17, 2025—Filed April 24, 2026 Worthwhile Wind LLC, Appellee, vs. Worth County Board of Supervisors, Appellant. Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Worth County, Colleen Weiland, judge. A county passed a moratorium and later an ordinance regulating wind energy development within its borders, and the county now appeals the district court’s decision to allow a wind energy developer to continue its project under preexisting law. Reversed and Case Remanded. McDonald, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which all justices joined except McDermott, J., who filed a dissenting opinion. Eric M. Updegraff (argued) of Hopkins & Huebner, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant. Bret A. Dublinske (argued), Brant M. Leonard, Nicci Ledbetter, Kelcy Whitaker, and Kristy Dahl Rogers (until withdrawal), of Fredrikson & Bryon, P.A., Des Moines, for appellee.  2 McDonald, Justice. A wind energy developer devoted several years and expended millions of dollars planning a commercial wind turbine project in Worth County, but the developer never applied for or obtained a permit to construct the project. When the county adopted a resolution imposing a moratorium on further wind projects and then an ordinance regulating commercial wind turbines, the developer filed this suit. The developer claimed the moratorium and the new ordinance effectively precluded it from developing the project. The developer contended that it acquired vested rights in the prior zoning regime and that the county enacted the ordinance in bad faith. The district court agreed with both contentions and held that the developer could complete development of its wind energy system in accord with the law as it existed before the resolution and new ordinance were passed. For the reasons explained below, we reverse. I. Worthwhile Wind LLC is an affiliate of Invenergy, LLC, a Chicago-based renewable energy development company. Beginning in 2018, Worthwhile undertook efforts to develop a commercial wind energy conversion system (C- WECS) in Worth County. As conceived, the project involved the construction and operation of as many as fifty-five commercial wind turbines across approximately 100 parcels with the capacity to generate 165 megawatts of electricity. Worthwhile was not actually going to construct and operate the energy system. Instead, this was a “development-transfer” project. As a development-transfer project, Worthwhile would complete the preliminary work, including conducting studies and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals and permits, among other things, so that it could sell the project to a third party who would then construct and operate the turbines. Between 2018 and early 2021, Worthwhile undertook  3 these preliminary development activities. It commissioned environmental screenings, engineering assessments, avian use studies, bat acoustic surveys, sound and shadow flicker analyses, and other studies. It executed wind energy leases with over 100 landowners. It filed an application with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which manages the electrical grid and the generator interconnection process, and posted approximately $3.8 million in interconnection security deposits. Although Worthwhile completed many preliminary activities in the development of the project, the essential parameters of the project remained unspecified and unstarted. Worthwhile had not selected a wind turbine model to use in the development. It thus could not identify the nu