ABOUT
Overview of Truss Bridge Renewable Energy
Our Goals:
To develop the most comprehensive registry of black and brown owned land in the U.S. suitable for renewable energy development.
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To partner with and leverage HBCU and HSI institutional knowledge and research to provide industry leading data on agrovoltic development.
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Our Purpose:
To identify, evaluate, certify, then lease, market and/or develop minority owned agricultural land suitable for renewable energy projects.
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Our Mission:
To intentionally pursue the highest economic use of minority owned agricultural land suitable for renewable energy development while preserving family land ownership and increasing generational wealth.
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TBE takes an unique approach to addressing the gap between the renewable energy industry and black and brown landowners. Our business model is heavily directed by decades of academic research on the topic of minority land loss. True to our name, we serve as a bridge between the academic community and the renewable energy industry.
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For example, it is often quoted that after reconstruction, the proportion of Black farmers in the U.S. decreased from 14% in 1920, to under 2% in 2017. The numbers for Asians, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Hispanic and Latino landowners follow similar trends. However, additional research reveals that these statistics are based on incomplete U.S. Census of Agriculture data and improper distinctions between key terms such as “farmers” and “landowners”. Specifically, the Census of Agriculture only counts farmers, not agricultural land owners who do not farm. These distinctions are transformative in painting a different picture. By working with the academic community to compile a more comprehensive registry of black and brown landowners, TBE is uniquely positioned to optimize the opportunity to reach our entire targeted universe of black and brown agricultural landowners. Accordingly, our process of compiling this registry utilizes proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) systems to review USDA Census of Agriculture data, state/county records and other private and public databases. Additionally, we conduct targeted social media marketing campaigns and direct landowner outreach to ensure our success in identifying all black and brown land suitable for renewable energy development.
Our mantra is “we represent the landowner”. As such, we are committed to protecting and preserving the agricultural nature of property by including strict regenerative practices that promote healthy and sustainable land. We are also committed to developing agrivoltaic systems and implementing carbon capturing techniques that allow land to be used to its highest economic potential whenever possible.
TBE is committed to the transfer of wealth and knowledge to historically disadvantaged communities, historically black colleges, and historically black institutions. Therefore, for each project we develop, we require landowners (or companies) of color to maintain an ownership interest in the property and an equity interest in the project.
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At TBE, we invest in landowners by developing good projects. As such, we are committed to working with landowners to identify and leverage the direct and indirect benefits of renewable energy projects. These benefits include access to legal support to clear title defects, direct financing opportunities, technology integration / long-term support, and product marketing, to name a few.