Community Matters: Energy innovation as tool for growing agency over Beaver County

Those of you who follow along with the work of RiverWise, the nonprofit organization I have the privilege of leading, may have heard that we recently received a second round of funding from the US Department of Energy.

The award, provided by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, is part of a program known as the Energizing Rural Communities Prize. Last July, in Phase One of the program, DOE announced 67 awardees, of which RiverWise was one.

Utilizing funds from our initial Phase One award, RiverWise and its partners, PA Solar Center and New Sun Rising, have been hard at work over the last year rapidly accelerating solar adoption in rural environmental justice communities in Beaver County.

During the last 12 months, our project team has utilized its broad network of existing community partners to develop a portfolio of more than 100 potential solar projects that are now at various stages of research, planning, and implementation. Those potential solar projects have the combined ability to generate more than 24.6 megawatts of solar energy, representing an estimated $74 million in energy savings over 25 years. Along the way, we have engaged in extensive outreach with more than 250 property owners, with 37 of these sites engaging in solar energy feasibility studies.

Partly because of such planning efforts, four of our project partners have now been able to secure $1.5 million in funding to move toward construction in the coming months. These include the New Brighton School District, Neighborhood North: Museum of Play, the Ambridge Municipal Building, and the Franklin Avenue Park in Aliquippa. Secured funds will be matched with federal incentives, generating a $3 million total investment across these sites.

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Our most recently announced award from DOE was based upon all these efforts and provides resources to continue this work in earnest throughout 2025. The initiative is one of only 33 funded projects nationwide, and it is the only winning proposal in all of Pennsylvania.

As I have written and spoken about The RISE Project in recent weeks, some of you have asked why RiverWise has decided to involve itself in energy initiatives. So, I thought I would take a moment to explain a bit here, particularly because doing so helps to shed light on the broader theory of change at the heart of all the work we do at RiverWise.

As I will tell anyone who will listen, the mission of RiverWise is to grow community power and voice so that residents of Beaver County can exercise agency over the future of their communities. Everything we do at RiverWise is, in one way or another, connected to this fundamental goal. So, how does an initiative like The RISE Project help to move us toward accomplishing that goal?

One of the key benefits of The RISE Project is the economic agency that it generates for participants in the program. At the four funded sites mentioned above, for instance, planned solar installations will generate an estimated $2.85 million in savings over the full project life cycle. When coupled with the $3 million in new money raised for these projects, that results in nearly $5 million in new economic agency for key institutions in Beaver County. Rather than spending that money on electricity, our municipalities, schools, and cultural institutions can give more attention to other needs that better serve our communities and their residents. When less strapped by financial constraints, such organizations can more easily prioritize principled decisions that bring about the kind of community they envision for the future.

Beyond the obvious financial benefits mentioned above, solar innovation offers enhanced community agency in a number of other ways. The local production of energy grows community resilience, enhances community health, democratizes energy production, and deepens community capacity to participate in a global energy transition. It provides the humble beginning of an escape from boom and bust cycles that have long plagued our region, placing our economic future in the hands of large institutions that are driven principally by economic expedience instead of community health and vibrancy.

Perhaps most importantly, participating in energy innovation generates renewed agency over the stories we tell ourselves and the stories that others tell about us. Initiatives like The RISE Project allow residents of our region to take hold of and shape new narratives about our commitment to innovation, community health, creativity, and so much more. As the only funded initiative of its type in the Commonwealth, The RISE Project provides an opportunity to share our distinctives, lead with purpose, and celebrate our community vision for a different type of future. Though some may view these kinds of things as incidental, at RiverWise we view them as the most important matters related to our shared community health and flourishing.

As I have studied community and economic development over the last decade or so, I have come to realize that there is no magic formula or roadmap for success other than this: work as creatively as possible to help residents understand that they deserve communities that meet their needs, elevate their imagination, and inspire their future. To be sure, there are many ways to do that here in Beaver County. At present, and thanks to ongoing DOE funding, The RISE Project provides an exciting opportunity to accomplish all those things and more. And so, we remain committed to this important work of growing community agency on our way to initiating energy innovation.