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Center for Energy Education urges Edgecombe County to negotiate community benefits with solar and energy projects
Summary
Moseen Lowe, executive director of the Center for Energy Education, told the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners that community benefits agreements—formal or informal—can secure local workforce training, school programs and capital improvements when energy projects come to rural counties.
Moseen Lowe, executive director of the Center for Energy Education, told the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 2 that counties should press developers for community benefits agreements when large solar and energy projects propose to use local land.
Lowe described both legally binding agreements and informal commitments that resulted in tangible local assets, including an education center in Halifax County she said was built after commissioners required community benefits as part of a lease. “If you don't ask, then you won't get anything,” Lowe said, urging early engagement between developers, county economic development staff, planning directors and school partners so projects can deliver workforce training, scholarships and other long‑term investments.
Lowe said community benefits can include paid workforce programs (she cited a training effort with Edgecombe Community College that trained roughly 92 people for a previous project), summer camps, teacher training funds, direct investments over time, sponsorships of community events and infrastructure repairs. She emphasized that asking for these benefits during the application process does not guarantee project approval but helps shape proposals that deliver local value.
Commissioners and staff responded that several of Lowe's recommendations are already being reviewed for inclusion in the county's revised solar ordinance and that staff have incorporated some of her suggested provisions into the draft ordinance language under consideration. Lowe said most of her organization's operating funds come from foundations and that she coordinates with developers to help counties identify appropriate priorities and enforceable commitments.
The presentation concluded with Lowe offering the Center for Energy Education as a technical resource for the county as it studies amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance and the solar moratorium timeline.
