SI2 Heads to the White House

It was an honor to attend a White House convening on “Accelerating Clean Energy Through Meaningful Community Engagement” last Friday in Washington D.C. The White House brought together an impressive group of state officials, researchers, advocates, and industry representatives to explore the best practices for engaging with communities and considering their input before permitting and building clean energy projects.  

The last panel, “Building Best Practices for Community Engagement Outside of Government”, focused on how clean energy firms approach community engagement.

As a panelist, I discussed the new work planned by the Solar and Storage Industries Institute in partnership with the Uncommon Dialogue on Large-Scale Solar Development at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment. Our goal is to test community engagement innovations at specific solar sites around the country.  

Throughout the morning, despite hearing numerous stories from representatives from non-profits, industry, and government, it struck me how little data and evidence exist about the specific practices that shape public sentiment. 

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SEEDS program, we’re seeking to test out innovative community engagement strategies at actual large-scale solar sites. We will conduct waves of survey research to build evidence about what works and what doesn’t. 

It was great to see many of our project partners, including Dan Reicher from Stanford, Ben Norris from SEIA, and Ben Hoen from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Many thanks to the White House team, including Chair Brenda Mallory and the Council on Environmental Quality for hosting the event. 

Pictured: Ben Hoen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Dave Gahl, Solar and Storage Industries Institute