Tyler Duvelius, Jon Carson, Robin Pressman and Mike Casey | Easing Project Approval: Go Local Early and Long-Term Ep.86

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Solar developers are well aware of the energy it takes to win the uphill, sometimes prolonged battle of project approval.  Is education the answer?  And which strategy works the best?  

Community engagement via telephone land line is a thing of the past; Dynamic Online Sampling on social media is the method of today.  Tyler Duvelius is Director of External Affairs at Conservative Energy Network.  Jon Carson is a lead solar developer with Trajectory Energy.  Robin Pressman is Head of Embold Research.  Mike Casey is the President of Tigercomm.  

Today on Clean Power Hour, we have a team of experts and advocates from diverse fields within the solar industry: Robin is conducting the research, Tyler is advocating on the ground in the communities long-term, and Jon and Mike are managing installs and slowly chipping away at getting solar into rural America.  

Together, this team offers evidence-based methods to get projects off the ground in a timely and affordable way.  Listen in for easy, low or cost-free resources for developers to ease the process of project approval. 

Key Takeaways

How utility-scale developers tend to under-communicate with the public at the most important moment

Two key metrics that were shown to significantly increase public acceptance of a project 

Three ways developers could streamline project approval with local officials, businesses and the public

Why community perception is still the worst bottleneck of recent times

Why Embold’s proprietary research and sampling methods are so integral in the effort to understand community mindset

Key results from Embold’s comprehensive research study into public opinion of solar 

Why investing in the early stages of a project can save time and hassle come permit time

Why staying involved locally past project completion will help in landing future work

How the Conservative Energy Network’s Land and Liberty project aims to stick around and continue community engagement well after the project is completed

Why explicitly stating where project revenue will go, e.g., high school renovations, is essential

Locations in the US where new projects tend to be sited

Why never letting the loudest voice win the argument is sage advice to follow

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Conservatives for Clean Energy

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Embold Research

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Trajectory Energy

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Tigercomm

Feb 2022 Article

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