Landmark Solar Agreement
Uncommon Dialogue | Large-Scale U.S. Solar Development: Integrating Climate, Conservation and Community
Solar development to address the climate crisis involves building large projects at megawatt or gigawatt-scale. Such projects, and related transmission and electricity storage, require substantial acreage whether at the edge of suburbs, in farm fields, on disturbed lands, or other public, private, and tribal lands. Siting and building these projects can be challenging, and often requires trade-offs. An "Uncommon Dialogue" among six large solar developers, leading land conservation and environmental organizations, tribal nation representatives, agricultural interests, community groups, and investors has reached a major agreement focused on addressing three key imperatives in the development of large-scale U.S. solar projects: climate, conservation and community (the “3Cs”). The parties have agreed to create six Working Groups to advance critical aspects of the 3Cs, including: Community and Stakeholder Engagement; Siting; Energy and Agricultural Technologies; Information Tools; Tribal Nations; and Policy.
Contact:
Dan Reicher, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, dreicher@stanford.edu
Ben Norris, Solar Energy Industry Association, bnorris@seia.org
Jessica Wilkinson, The Nature Conservancy, jwilkinson@tnc.org