Building Community Support for Large-Scale Energy Projects

Local opposition is increasingly becoming the central bottleneck for energy and digital infrastructure development. When utilities and developers treat local communities as passive hosts rather than active partners, projects face costly delays, regulatory hurdles, and reputational damage. This session breaks down what genuine cross-sector and community collaboration looks like on the ground. Panelists will examine how power providers and technology developers can align on joint messaging, address community concerns around resource use and zoning, and create tangible local value through economic development, infrastructure co-benefits, and ongoing civic dialogue.