Case Study Details - Responsible Renewables Infrastructure - Microsoft-TNC Partnership: Leveraging AI for responsible renewable deployment and environmental protection

Project overview 

Delays in renewable energy projects are often caused by poor site selection, resulting in legal disputes, community opposition and environmental degradation. As wind and solar power development scales rapidly, identifying suitable locations for these investments is more critical than ever.

In response, digital tools are emerging as powerful enablers. One such tool is Global Renewables Watch (GReW) – a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Microsoft and Planet Labs. GReW leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to help energy developers identify low-conflict sites for renewable energy projects, which can help reduce the cost of delays and accelerate permitting timelines.[1] All data generated through this partnership is publicly available on Global Renewables Watch.[2]

Approach

GReW is a dynamic, innovative atlas designed to map the location and performance of every utility-scale solar and wind installation worldwide. It uses AI and high-resolution satellite imagery to track development trends and site-level changes over time. The platform supports estimation of wind and solar power capacity and enables progress tracking towards the Paris Agreement targets.[3]

Additionally, GReW helps identify where renewable energy development intersects with critical conservation areas, informing TNC and other organizations in prioritizing efforts.[4] The tool enables predictive modelling to locate low-conflict development zones and provides estimates of nameplate capacity and capacity growth over the past seven years – by country and by state or province.

This foundational work inspired TNC to apply AI-driven mapping to solar and wind power development in India, contributing directly to the advancement of the SiteRight tool.[5]

Business and economic value

The data from GReW, including land use and siting information, can help renewable energy practitioners and policy-makers guide renewable energy development to areas with minimal environmental impacts, ultimately promoting faster deployment. Siting conflicts are among the leading causes of project delays in the renewables sector, often costing developers $2-3 million per year in financing charges for every year a project is delayed.[6]

AI-enabled siting tools help mitigate these risks by identifying lower-conflict areas for development. By proactively addressing environmental and social risks, such tools can reduce permitting timelines by 20-30%, improve regulatory alignment and strengthen community acceptance. This leads to faster project execution, reduced legal and permitting complexity and more stable investment outcomes – key priorities for utilities, investors and governments alike.

Additionally, responsible siting improves project eligibility for green finance, ESG-linked investment and government funding schemes focused on nature-positive outcomes. Through smarter siting, reduced risk, faster permitting and enhanced investor appeal, responsible deployment becomes a catalyst for the scalable, profitable growth of the renewable energy sector. As institutional investors increasingly demand evidence of biodiversity protection and local co-benefits, digital siting tools provide a standardized, scalable way to demonstrate impact alignment.

At a sector-wide level, broader adoption of siting tools can help mainstream responsible deployment practices. By translating complex social and environmental datasets into actionable insights, these tools reduce conflict, lower costs and accelerate renewables deployment – while ensuring projects align with broader goals of equity, biodiversity and a just energy transition. Ultimately, responsible siting is not a barrier to speed, but a strategic enabler of scalable, investable growth in the renewable energy sector.

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