KAOH media

Join Allan Hug, co-founder of KAOH Media, alongside David Loomis and Tom Swierczewski, for a live webinar: The Hidden ROI of Public Trust: What You Can’t Afford to Overlook Next Tuesday, November 18, 2025 | 11:00 AM CT Hosted by Strategic Economic Research, LLC Allan will share how KAOH Media’s data-driven communication strategies help renewable energy developers turn community engagement into measurable project success — from faster permitting to stronger policy support. Reserve your spot below #RenewableEnergy #PublicTrust #CommunityEngagement #CleanEnergy #CommunicationsStrategy #KAOHMedia https://lnkd.in/eduQEyJG

In this week's edition of KAOH Insights… KAOH’s Mackenzie Scanlon describes how KAOH’s Message Rally helps developers reach their most important audiences. Solar and wind developers got a win from a federal district court vacating a Trump Administration restriction on tax credits. Public opposition to data center development is driving new legislation in Ohio and Texas while federal regulations may be lightening, making local permitting bodies the central flashpoint for data center permitting debate and pushing political candidates on both parties to rethink messaging. Smaller-scale battery storage projects are being embraced by electric cooperatives, but local restrictions on utility-scale BESS are rapidly expanding, driven in part by association with data centers.

Canary Media Inc.'s reporting on solar myths and potato farms points to a larger issue across complex land use projects: misinformation rarely stays contained. It moves through social channels, public meetings, neighbor-to-neighbor conversations, and elected officials’ inboxes long before a project team has a chance to respond. By the time a false claim becomes part of the local conversation, the burden shifts. Developers are no longer simply explaining the project. They are working against fear, repetition, and the perception that silence meant the rumor was true. That is why community engagement cannot wait until opposition is organized. If you’re tired of being one step behind the misinformation, reach out to us at https://bit.ly/48mBuSV. https://lnkd.in/epmqmZzU

Domestic, accessible #energy is strength for all Americans, no matter their party alignment. That is the core message from Grist’s latest reporting: despite partisan rhetoric to the contrary, the market is not waiting on cheap, fast-to-build renewables. This trend reinforces what we see every day at #KAOH: More energy is needed; and energy projects need to earn trust, navigate local dynamics, communicate clearly, and move through increasingly complex permitting environment in order to move forward and be built. Solar and battery storage made up 79% of new U.S. power generation added in 2025, and demand is being pulled forward by one force above all others: data centers. Solar is low-cost, fast to deploy, and increasingly difficult to ignore when power demand is rising faster than conventional generation can come online. The energy transition is becoming more urgent, so the work now is making sure the communities hosting that infrastructure are engaged early, heard clearly, and brought along as partners in the process. https://lnkd.in/gXcCnDSh

New York, NY to Macon, GA, and plenty of ground in between. This month, our team met with partners in New York and Georgia to discuss new opportunities and infrastructure projects where community engagement and trust are central to moving the work forward. We believe that a lot can change when teams take the time to understand what’s happening on the ground, so wherever you need us is where we’ll be. Reach out at https://bit.ly/48mBuSV to schedule a call today.

"Infrastructure development today is shaped as much by community dynamics as by economic viability and market conditions. In small towns across America, renewable energy projects rarely fail due to technical shortcomings. More often, they stall when resident concerns go unaddressed, opposition voices dominate the narrative through misinformation, and local officials feel exposed to political risk. That’s why earning a Social License to Operate is essential to project success. Simply put, a social license to operate is the informal, local acceptance of a project—a measure of trust, legitimacy, and consent earned over time through responsible behavior, transparent communication, and sustained community engagement. " Read more from KAOH Sr. Director Miranda K. below: