Sustainability
Creating shared value for communities in the energy transition
So far this year, I’ve traveled to about XX communities across XX states and provinces. My team will sometimes joke that I’m the Enel North America employee with the most mileage. That’s because in my role as Director of Sustainability Projects and Community Affairs, I’m most impactful when I’m in the communities where our wind and solar projects are located, which is all over North America.
My path to this career began when I was working on an oil drilling rig. I was watching the operation flare off gas, and it struck me that there had to be a better way. I wanted to do things that made a positive impact on the environment and left communities better than they were before. After I joined Enel, I was drawn to how passionate our sustainability team and site managers were, and how much of a difference they were making in the rural communities in which we operated projects. That’s what brought me into sustainability.
What is Enel’s CSV model, and how does it work?
Our sustainability team supports the entire lifestyle of our renewable energy projects, starting from the early stage of development, as we’re going into a community, and all the way through to construction, operation and ultimately decommissioning.
That holistic approach is important because when we understand the needs and challenges of a community, we can better affect change using Enel’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) model. The CSV model is how we provide targeted financial support to local initiatives in our host communities. Through this model, we support the sustainable development of communities and help advance a just energy transition that’s equitable and inclusive.
The best part of this model is that I get to sit across the table from so many of our different community members, listen, learn and collaborate on the best way to build a sustainability and CSV plan for that project and community.
CSV funds aren’t charity — they’re strategic investments that support both the local community and Enel, which has employees who live and work near its wind and solar projects. We have seven CSV focus areas: STEM education, civil infrastructure improvements, economic development, environment, resilient and sustainable communities, climate and social impact, and community well-being. In 2023 alone, Enel North America contributed nearly $900,000 across 88 projects that supported over 10,000 individual beneficiaries.
Preserving and strengthening rural life in North America
About one in five Americans live in rural areas, which account for about 97% of the country’s land mass. However, rural ways of life are threatened by factors like climate change, extreme weather, agricultural consolidation, and population changes. For many rural communities that are underfunded or under resourced, wind and solar projects offer hope.
As major investments in rural North America, renewable energy projects provide an injection of jobs, local economic impact and income for farmers and ranchers. Our CSV program aims to support efforts and initiatives that strengthen rural life and build more resilient rural communities.
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One of my favorite examples of this is the FarmFED Co-Op in Mt. Pulaski, Illinois — a startup Enel began supporting in the days of COVID-19. The Co-Op’s goal is to connect local farmers and growers with a local market, which created a local value chain during the pandemic when supply chain issues were rampant. The project has been a resounding success, and now they’re even starting to connect growers in the Co-Op with local schools. In the U.S., one in four school meals are of poor nutritional quality, so with this initiative, students can access more nutritious food that’s grown nearby. FarmFED continues to have great traction in central Illinois, so we’re looking out how we can help expand it into other parts of the state and then hopefully replicate it in communities across the country.
One more project I’ve loved that we support through Enel’s CSV model is The Food Group’s Big River Farms in Minnesota. They partner with organizations like Enel that have land access through solar farms, and provide that land access to emerging farmers, including immigrants who want to farm but don’t have land. They also give workshops, hands-on trainings and conferences for farmers, which we’ve been fortunate to support at Enel.
Supporting the energy workforce transition, from classroom to careers
At its core, the energy transition is an enormous realignment of one of the biggest sectors of the economy. That has serious impacts for workers in traditional energy industries. It also poses a challenge for renewable energy companies, like Enel, who need workers to manage a growing number of wind, solar and storage projects.
Enel’s CSV program supports scholarships and workforce development programs — what we call Classrooms to Careers — that help connect workers in its partner communities with opportunities in the fast-growing renewable energy industry. This is especially important because many rural communities are dealing with population loss, as people move to bigger towns for more job opportunities. At Enel, we want to create those opportunities closer to home.
Our Classrooms to Careers model starts in elementary schools, where we partner with nonprofits, local institutions and even children’s authors to support STEM programming. Then in middle school, we help introduce students to renewable energy through programs like KidWind. And for high school, the education becomes more advanced, with workshops for technologies like drones and coding.
Once students are ready to pursue post-secondary education, Enel invests in scholarships and skills training to prepare them for a career in clean energy — oftentimes right in their hometown at an Enel project.
I have too many great memories to count when it comes to our Classroom to Careers work. One of my favorite K-12 initiatives we’ve supported is Erin Twamley’s STEM Superheroes books, which teach kids about renewable energy and women in energy careers. I’m also continuously inspired by the Iola High School robotics team and their teacher Krisha Goodney, who is a force for innovation. And at the college level, I’m incredibly proud of Enel’s ongoing partnership with Lethbridge College and the Piikani Nation to provide scholarships and wind technician programs for indigenous students seeking a career in renewables.
I could go on forever, there are dozens and dozens more examples. And that’s exactly why I love my job.
Hyperlocal impact requires a comprehensive and custom community partnerships
At the end of the day, we live and work in the same communities as our renewable energy projects. Our communities are our partners, and they should realize tangible value from wind and solar projects just as Enel does.
Looking ahead, I’m excited about how Enel’s CSV program will continue to evolve. We’re working to zero in on more local community benefits tied to our projects, like beekeeping and sheep grazing, which support local farmers and beekeepers. I also see more opportunities for us to help bring funding and grant opportunities from the federal and regional levels down into our communities to make a hyperlocal and targeted impact where its most needed.
If I can leave you with one takeaway about our clean energy communities and approach to creating shared value, it’s this: every community is different. You can’t apply the same approach to a project in Pennsylvania that you do in Texas. Our approach to sustainability and community engagement must be comprehensive, multifaceted and entirely grounded in the needs of the community.
This energy transition should support the disadvantaged, benefitting those who haven’t seen the economic benefits of energy projects before. That’s how we’ll achieve a just, equitable and inclusive energy transition in North America.