#63 Michelle Moore, Groundswell

As executive director of Groundswell, Michelle Moore leads with a deep conviction that solar power is an abundant source of energy that should also be a source of economic empowerment. She wants all communities to have access to clean energy and has developed a model for supplying it that has taken root in 5 states and Washington DC. Groundswell’s Empower program enables market rate subscribers to purchase solar energy from a local power project and share the savings with low-income residents. This approach is cutting energy bills in half, creating a pathway for savings that low-income families need for rent, food and school. Groundswell also partners with community-based partners willing to host a power project on their land, rooftop or parking lot. Michelle knows the energy sector’s strengths and weaknesses including a lack of racial and gender diversity in its executive leadership. She is a disruptor in the energy sector who wants the sector to look much more like the communities Groundswell serves. And she wants rural communities, like her own in La Grange, Georgia to be included in the energy conversation too.