Key Takeaways
Most developers I talk to have a detailed budget for engineering, legal, permitting and interconnection, and then a vague line for community outreach that someone fills in after the neighbors start organizing. By then you aren't doing community relations anymore, you're doing damage control, and damage control costs more and works worse.
The industry is starting to say this out loud. At Data Center World Power in October 2026, as reported by Data Center Knowledge, Hecate Energy's Diane Sullivan said quietly advancing projects under NDAs drove backlash and that getting permits before telling the public "is a terrible idea." At the same event, QTS's Dado Slezak said power has overtaken fiber and metro proximity in site selection and that community support is now essential. When the people building the projects are saying it, you can stop treating community relations as optional.
The pushback is real across energy too. Heatmap News, as cited by EnergyTech in April 2026, found that at least 96 battery projects totaling about 25,000 MW have faced public opposition since 2021, with the January 2025 Moss Landing fire in California driving much of it. If you're building anything big, visible or unfamiliar, you should budget as though you'll meet organized questions, because you probably will.
I'm not going to give you dollar figures, because they swing wildly with project size, location and how heated the local conversation already is. What I can give you is the structure, so you know what you're paying for and when.
This is the cheapest phase and the one with the biggest payoff, which is exactly why it's the one that gets skipped. The line items here are listening and research, meaning stakeholder mapping, a look at past local fights, quiet conversations with people who know the town, and a read on what AI assistants and local media already say about your company and your technology.
You're also budgeting for the person who will be your face in the community. That needs to be a real human being with a phone number who shows up, not a project email address. If you don't have that person, this is where you hire or contract for one.
When you announce, you'll need materials that answer the questions residents actually ask, not the ones your engineers wish they'd ask. We covered a lot of those in "The Questions Residents Actually Ask About Battery Storage." Budget for plain-language fact sheets, a project website that's kept current, small-group meetings before any big public ones, and time for your local lead to go to the places where people already gather, like the chamber breakfast, the library community room and the youth sports sidelines.
This is also the phase where you line up third-party voices. Local businesses, trades, first responders and civic groups who understand the project and are willing to speak for it carry far more weight than anything you say about yourself. That takes time and real relationships, and it should have its own line in the budget.
This is the phase everyone budgets for, and they usually budget for the wrong things. You'll need hearing preparation for your team, testimony coaching, a rapid-response capacity for when misinformation spreads, and someone watching social channels and local news every single day.
Keep a crisis reserve here too. It's a line you hope you never spend, but if a related incident somewhere else hits the news in the middle of your permitting, you'll need to respond within hours and not wait three weeks for a budget approval. If organized opposition shows up, our post "How Should a Developer Handle Organized Community Opposition?" walks through how to engage without making it worse.
In Massachusetts, for example, data center developers now have specific obligations to think about, which we laid out in "What Does Executive Order 658 Require of Data Center Developers." Every state has its own version of this, and your budget should include the time to understand it.
Whether you win or lose, the work doesn't stop. If you win, you still have construction, traffic, noise and a community that's watching to see if you keep your word, so you need a budget for ongoing updates, a construction liaison and follow-through on whatever you promised. If you lose, you need a plan to rebuild support, which we walk through in "Your Project Got Banned. Now What?"
When budgets tighten, the first two things on the chopping block are the early listening work and the post-approval follow-through. Both feel optional on a spreadsheet because they happen before and after the moments that seem to matter. Both are where trust gets built or lost.
Cutting the early listening means you walk into your first public meeting blind to the concerns that will sink you. Cutting the follow-through means your next project in the region starts with a reputation for disappearing once the permit cleared. I've sat on enough local boards and committees to tell you that towns have long memories, and they talk to each other.
Start by asking how visible the project is, how unfamiliar the technology is to the people living near it, and whether there's an existing local fight you're walking into. The higher the answers, the more you put into phases one and two. That's the idea behind our post "Reputation Is a Line Item," which is that community trust deserves a real budget line from day one, not a contingency you raid after things go wrong.
What should a community relations budget include for a contested project? It should include listening and research, a local point person, meetings and plain-language materials, digital and AI visibility, third-party voices, a crisis reserve and follow-through after approval.
When should a developer start spending on community relations? Before the project is public. Early listening and relationship building cost the least and do the most to prevent organized opposition later.
What community relations costs do developers most often cut? Early listening and post-approval follow-through are cut most often, and both are where trust is won or lost.
Do data center and battery storage projects really face community opposition? Yes. Heatmap News, as cited by EnergyTech, counted at least 96 battery projects facing public pushback since 2021, and data center executives speaking at Data Center World Power in October 2026 said community support is now essential.
If you're planning a project and want the community budget built before the first hearing, book a strategy call.
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