Meet Dan Gorman
Dan is new to our team but not new to energy development. In fact, he’s worked in the oil and natural gas industry for years. He even finds time to serve his community as a judge for the city of River Falls in Western Wisconsin. Learn more about Dan’s journey here:
What experience did you have prior to joining Enterprise Energy?
For ten years I worked as a landman in Oil and Natural Gas. I worked mostly on siting, acquisition, and permitting for new pipelines, valve settings, and Town Border Stations. The job had a lot of rewarding parts. To this day I can drive around Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the UP of Michigan and see energy infrastructure that has my finger prints on it. I got to meet a lot of landowners, work out deals, and see projects through to completion. I also got to permit some pretty major projects, speak at public hearings, and ensure that the community was being heard and their concerns addressed.
What do you like about working in solar?
I like the people. Every landowner I develop solar for wants us there. They understand the benefit of community solar. Not just generally either, but specifically to them. Whether that is the income that solar provides, the environmental benefits to their land and community, or the ability to hold onto their land today so they can leave it to their kids tomorrow. Just the other day I had a landowner tell me, “If it weren’t for this solar garden, we would have to sell our house and move to the city”. It’s really rewarding knowing I am helping people like that.
What is similar and what is different between Solar and Natural Gas?
In both industries you spend most of your time explaining what the project is and what it isn’t. People understandably don’t have an in-depth knowledge on how energy is produced and transported. When a project is proposed in their community, they very reasonably have concerns. What surprises many people though is that both industries have gone to considerable lengths to address those concerns and made those solutions part of the normal operating procedures. Once you explain how you will mitigate the issue they are concerned about, people are by and large very supportive.
Why did you want to work in Community Solar?
Community solar improves everything. It improves energy. It improves the environment. It Improves communities. It’s a really exciting industry! We build the next generation of America’s infrastructure. We generate sustainable electricity that everyone uses, and we do it locally right there in the community.
In oil and natural gas, many of the projects have to be located on a specific parcel of land. If for whatever reason that landowner is opposed to the project things can become pretty adversarial.
One of the great things about community solar is that every landowner we work with wants us there. They often seek us out. We have never condemned a single parcel of land in Minnesota and we never will.
