Conference Spotlight: Building Better Partnerships to Advance the Clean Energy Transition

The relationship between philanthropy and clean energy developers holds plenty of potential, but a relatively limited history, making this dialogue especially important as both contingents build trust and learn how to work together most effectively. For the first time, one of the panels at the conference focused on this important topic. Developers and philanthropy representatives, including RCP’s Senior Working Lands Advisor Scott Laeser, discussed opportunities to foster dialogue and collaboration among their respective fields. Panelists highlighted the already budding partnerships among developers and several of RCP’s grantees – Localyst, Energy Right, and the COSSA Institute – as examples of how to build successful collaborative efforts.  

Scott also presented on RCP’s growing body of research that centers rural voices in renewable energy communications and storytelling efforts. His presentation focused on general insights into rural attitudes around clean energy and strategies to tell better stories while also giving specific, practical tips and tools to apply. Those insights included the importance of early and accessible education around wind and solar projects. It’s key to help local folks understand the benefits in the clear language that resonates with them and their neighbors. 

RCP recently conducted message testing on several videos filmed last fall, and Scott shared some of the early, promising results from that work. Scott pointed to the need for building practical awareness around clean energy – how clean energy projects work, what they can do in rural communities, and helpful perspectives. For example, RCP’s research has found positive attitude shifts from educating rural people that a wind turbine can power a home for two days with every minute that it spins. 

The conference also featured a panel that included RCP grantee American Solar Grazing Association. With its first Executive Director now at the helm, ASGA is focusing on building on the momentum that grazing livestock on solar farms is enjoying. ASGA recently released its 2024 census of solar grazing, identifying over 500 solar projects covering 129,000 acres that are grazing livestock, primarily sheep, under panels. Agrivoltaics, pairing traditional agricultural land uses with solar panels, can play a critical role in improving community perceptions and acceptance of solar projects and giving farmers additional economic opportunities. Along with community engagement, agrivoltaics featured as a prominent topic during this year’s ACP conference, and ASGA is poised to grow its support for developers and farmers interested in pursuing pairing solar farms and livestock grazing.

The ACP siting conference speaks to the growing awareness and urgency around improving project permitting and community engagement efforts, but we know the hard work lies ahead. The promise and possibility the energy transition can offer rural communities is immense, but many rural residents aren’t bought in yet. In rural Montezuma County, Colorado, for example, an RCP grantee recently secured a promising path forward for clean energy even as county commissioners approved a moratorium on new projects. The COSSA Institute’s Ambassadors spoke convincingly about the fruitful five years of collaboration between local community members and a solar developer planning an array in the area, effectively persuading the commissioners to allow a first-of-its-kind avenue to continue pending projects despite the new moratorium. 

Efforts like COSSA’s show that working together, developers, non-profits, and philanthropy can build better projects that strengthen and lift up rural communities, tell the story of those successes, and shift the narrative of clean energy to focus on the benefits and opportunities it offers rural America. At the ACP conference, Scott urged attendees to focus on building rural capacity and power, telling better stories that center the tangible upsides of clean energy siting, and creating the connective tissue necessary to further this critical conversation. As partners, he explained, our next step will require building trust between the many diverse players in this field so that rural people reap the benefits from a healthier environment and stronger local economies as the clean energy transition accelerates.