How Local Grassroots Campaigns Are Unlocking Clean Energy Progress Despite Federal Challenges

Up until September 2023, Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission had not approved a large-scale wind project in 14 years. But when commissioners reviewed 456 public comments for the Badger Hollow wind farm—a 118-megawatt project spanning Iowa and Grant counties—they encountered overwhelming support. Approval was granted shortly after.

This outcome was not accidental. For months, a coalition of organizations including the Rural Climate Partnership, Greenlight America, Farm-to-Power, Clean Wisconsin, CivicIQ, and Healthy Climate Wisconsin collaborated to build public backing. Their strategy included:

• Hosting roundtables with local farmers to discuss project benefits;
• Producing digital ads featuring testimonials from residents, aired online and at gas stations;
• Highlighting the project’s financial impact: nearly $600,000 annually for cash-strapped towns and counties to fund infrastructure like roads, bridges, and emergency services;
• Empowering trusted local voices to advocate for the project based on community values.

The Wisconsin breakthrough demonstrates how local grassroots interventions can accelerate the energy transition—even amid federal policy challenges. As electricity demand surges and costs rise, clean energy solutions like wind, solar, and storage have matured into reliable, scalable, and cost-effective alternatives. With global energy markets roiled by conflict, these technologies also provide stability against fossil fuel volatility.

Why Aren’t Clean Energy Projects Moving Faster?

Despite these advantages, clean energy deployment remains slow in many regions. To understand why, our team at Invest in Our Future analyzed the barriers over the past three years.

Traditional philanthropic approaches to climate and clean energy often prioritized policy development and greenhouse gas reduction. However, with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) now law, our organization adopted a new focus: maximizing the impact of federal clean energy investments by addressing on-the-ground constraints.

Our mission was clear: ensure that this ambitious policy—backed by commercially ready technology—translated into real projects that benefit communities. This required two key actions:

1. Mobilizing awareness: Raising visibility of IRA programs and incentives to help communities access federal dollars.
2. Removing barriers: Addressing deployment challenges that persist despite historic government support.

Barrier 1: Organized Opposition to Utility-Scale Projects

Utility-scale wind and solar projects frequently face organized, vocal opposition from residents concerned about rapid landscape changes and distrustful of out-of-town developers. Opponents often exploit siting and permitting processes to delay or block projects entirely. Counter-movements advocating for clean energy are too often absent or under-resourced to respond effectively.

Barrier 2: Underutilized Community-Oriented Projects

Many community-focused clean energy projects—such as rooftop solar for schools, microgrids for hospitals, or electrified school buses that serve as mobile batteries during outages—remain stalled. In many cases, neither private investors nor public officials fully grasp the financial or operational benefits. As a result, a significant pipeline of viable projects remains untapped.

The Wisconsin case proves that when philanthropy invests in local storytelling, education, and mobilization, clean energy can gain the momentum it needs to overcome systemic inertia—offering a roadmap for advocates nationwide.