About
Why CommonWatts exists, and the experience behind it.
Why CommonWatts exists
I founded CommonWatts because communities and data center developers need something other than public relations. They need someone who understands energy and knows how these projects really get built. And they need someone who knows community concerns cannot be handled with a presentation after the big decisions are already made.
Where I come from, stated plainly
I was Head of Partnerships and Public Engagement at Aston, a company that prepares land with power for AI data centers. I know how a site moves from first look to construction, and why community engagement often decides whether it succeeds or fails.
My background helps. I know what a developer can and cannot say yes to, so I can tell a community when a request is realistic and when it is not.
Before Aston, I spent more than a decade developing community-first projects. As Chief Operating Officer of Edelen Renewables, I helped build Social Impact Solar, one of the first community-first development models in the energy industry. It rests on a simple idea: energy projects should create value for the places that host them. Community benefits belong in a project’s design from the start, not added once opposition appears.
I am also managing director and half owner of Edelen Renewables Community Solar. There I run Farmers Powering Communities, a partnership with American Farmland Trust that lets farmers keep growing crops on land that also produces solar energy. It is the kind of practical compromise that has shaped my career: building and preserving do not have to be opposites when people are willing to listen and work at it.
Disclosure: my ongoing interests in Edelen Renewables Community Solar have nothing to do with data center development. I list them here, and in full on every engagement page, so you do not have to go looking.
What I learned that shaped this firm
Opposition to these projects is rarely just a communications problem. Communities have fair questions about power, water, noise, taxes, roads and utilities, jobs, openness, and who ends up carrying the risk. Developers face real limits that people outside the industry often do not see. Lasting solutions start by admitting both are true.
Data centers should be built with communities, not forced on them. I work with developers who are willing to engage early, listen honestly and make real compromises. I work with communities willing to judge a project on its merits and look for solutions that protect what matters locally.
My approach is community-first, not anti-data center. Every project and community is different, so I take each one on its own facts. Where there is common ground, I help both sides find it. Where there is not, I help everyone make a better decision than they would have made otherwise. Sometimes that decision is to walk away.
I cannot promise the outcome anyone wants. But I can promise a nearly perfect process and a decision that holds up.
Start a conversation
Tell us where the project is, who is involved, and how far along it is. A short call is usually enough to see whether we are the right fit.
nathan@commonwatts.com