Despite recent shifts in federal policy, many Midwestern states are still supportive of clean energy deployment to meet load growth. What’s the right blueprint for passing renewable energy legislation at the state level and what might change in the future to get us across the finish line? How can states step up to cover changes caused by H.R.1? This session will share insights and best practices to collaboratively support these goals and benefits the customers we serve, safely, reliably, and quickly.

Community solar is a valuable asset that can expand access to clean energy for households as well as lower electricity costs for consumers, increase grid resilience and reliability, and create local jobs. How can front-of-the-meter distributed generation fairly allocate costs and benefits among utilities, subscribers, and other stakeholders? In this session, panelists will host a solutions-oriented discussion on tradeoffs and policy and program design strategies needed to balance equity, affordability, and reliability for community solar in the Midwest.

Separate registration required

Delayed projects are costing you
Community opposition is putting clean energy projects at risk — and the cost of inaction is steep.

• Average canceled project losses: $2M (solar) and $7.5M (wind)
• Local friction is delaying or derailing projects nationwide
• Most developers are underestimating community engagement risk

It’s time to campaign smarter, not harder.

In this 4-hour training, you’ll learn to apply proven political campaign strategies to win local support and de-risk your projects.

Learn more

As utility-scale solar, wind, and storage development expands across the Midwest, communities, developers, and policymakers face evolving siting challenges—from zoning conflicts and permitting delays to community engagement and land-use tradeoffs. This panel will explore what’s working and what’s not across key Midwestern states, highlighting recent policy changes, legal frameworks, and real-world project experiences.

This session will include time for each of the Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO) in the Midwest Region to provide a brief update on current changes to interconnection and capacity estimates, the queue, the transmission build out plan and other RTO led initiatives that impact renewable energy projects in the region. Staff leads from PJM, MISO and SPP will provide updates from their viewpoints for audience updates.

H.R. 1 initiated changes to the residential solar landscape, it is more important that ever to ensure consumers are receiving reliable and trustworthy information. To provide high-quality customer experience, stakeholders need to work together on consumer education, industry coordination, and national standards. At the same time, states throughout the country are pursuing policies focused on residential solar. This session will work through hot topics in consumer protection, policy developments, industry programs, and how businesses can navigate all of this. 

The U.S. solar clean energy industry continues to accelerate, adding 8.6 gigawatts of new solar module manufacturing capacity in Q1 2025 alone. This rapid growth highlights the critical role of solar and storage in advancing American energy independence and economic development. Yet, continued uncertainty in the trade landscape and shifting policy dynamics pose challenges for manufacturers. This session will explore why the Midwest is evolving as a hub for solar manufacturing and how companies are navigating current headwinds. Industry leaders will discuss the region’s strengths and examine what lies ahead for clean energy manufacturing.