Why Renewable Projects Struggle Without Community Buy-In and How to Fix It

What if the biggest reason renewable energy projects fail has nothing to do with technology or capital... and everything to do with trust?

In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Tristan Walker, President at Massif Energy, a company rethinking how renewable projects get built by putting communities at the center from day one.

Tristan grew up in a boom-and-bust resource town in British Columbia. He trained as an aerospace engineer, worked in municipal government, and even ran a clothing brand that funded community solar projects. Today, he's leading a new kind of clean energy company; one that starts every project with the question: "What does this community actually want?"

What You'll Learn:

• Why community resistance often starts before the first permit is filed
• How oil and gas earned loyalty in rural regions and what renewables can learn from that
• The disconnect between local communities and institutional project owners
• How to build pride and trust by co-designing projects from the ground up
• Why BC’s hydro storage makes it a hidden asset in a renewables-first future
• A mindset shift every developer and investor should adopt if they want to scale faster

This episode is for you if:

• You build, invest in, or develop clean energy projects
• You partner with Indigenous or rural communities
• You care about scaling renewables with real public support
• You believe trust is as important as technology in the energy transition

Links: 

Tristan Walker on LinkedIn

Massif Energy's website

Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/

• Email: wes@leegroupsearch.com
• https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
• https://leegroupsearch.com/