New REWI whitepaper presents a framework for identifying regional research priorities
The recently rel
eased Solar, Wildlife, & Ecosystem Research Priorities for the Southeastern United States is the first regional multi-stakeholder alignment summary of critical knowledge gaps and research priorities for solar-wildlife and ecosystem interactions in the Southeastern US. This report is the result of a collaboration between REWI and the University of Georgia’s (UGA’s) Carl Vinson Institute of Government. Guided by a multistakeholder planning committee, REWI and UGA engaged with regional stakeholders and decision makers across the Southeastern U.S. through in-person workshops and surveys to identify research needs and knowledge gaps for solar development in the region. Read on to learn more about this process!
Click here to view the full report and summary handout.
Southeast Solar Research: The Challenge
The Southeast has experienced rapid growth of solar development in recent years. REWI’s Southeast Solar Power and Wildlife/Natural Resources Regional Workshop in June 2024 identified that:
- Sound science is needed to inform management decisions that minimize adverse impacts and maximize the benefits of solar energy on natural resources;
- Research on solar/natural resource issues has not kept pace with solar energy development; and
- There is a need to define and articulate research needs, priorities, knowledge gaps, and desired outcomes surrounding solar-wildlife interactions for the Southeast, to ensure that limited research funds are allocated towards the most impactful questions.
Our Approach
REWI and UGA engaged stakeholder groups and decision makers working at the intersection of solar energy and conservation in a structured, transparent, multi-step process to prioritize research areas and questions for the Southeastern United States.
- Elicit and integrate the perspectives and interests of the broader community (natural resource agencies, solar companies, conservation organizations, etc.) regarding knowledge gaps related to decisionmaking, to inform a broad set of research questions.
- Format: Online survey shared directly with targeted stakeholder pool
- Identify and collaborate with a focal group of representatives and decision makers to refine and then prioritize research questions based on uncertainty, relevance, and tractability.
- Format: Workshops (online)
- Solicit input from the broader community (industry, agencies, academia, NGOs) regarding knowledge gaps relevant to decision making related to solar-wildlife-ecosystems issues by prioritizing identified research questions.
- Format: Online survey shared via email with broad stakeholder pool
- Develop research strategy document providing an overview of priority research questions regarding PV solar development in the Southeastern United States.
- Format: Analysis and synthesis of workshop and survey results with review and feedback from the Planning Committee.
What Comes Next
This initiative was intended to both identify research needs and facilitate collaboration across the region. The workshop and surveys, along with the Planning Committee, gathered experts, researchers, and decision makers were intended to ensure representation of all values, opinions, and needs. This report’s findings reflect the views of the broader stakeholder community in the Southeast United States, rather than those of individual organizations or companies. The aspiration of this collaborative effort is for funding agencies and industry to leverage these findings to inform their research need statements and goals, requests for proposals, and environmental and sustainability goals.
REWI is interested in repeating this effort in other regions of the United States!
If your organization is interested in learning more and/or partnering on such an effort, reach out to REWI Senior Research Manager/Scientist, Isabel Gottlieb (igottlieb@rewi.org).