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. In October 2023, an "Uncommon Dialogue" among six large solar developers, leading land conservation and environmental organizations, tribal nation representatives, agricultural interests, community groups, and investors 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 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.
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.
Since 2024, and with additional support provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), each working group has progressed toward the completion of detailed work plan that will yield a series of products and resources to guide large-scale solar siting. That work is supplemented by another DOE-funded effort, that brings members of the Solar Uncommon Dialogue and academic researchers together to better understand best practices in community engagement for large-scale solar projects.
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
Dave Gahl, Solar and Storage Energy Industries Institute, Dgahl@ssii.org