Energy is the word of the week at the University of Missouri. The Mizzou-based Center for Rural Energy Security discussed its first research paper Thursday at a conference in Mizzou’s Reynolds Journalism Institute.

The center researches issues in rural energy to inform legislators and policy leaders. At the event, director Michael Sykuta shared his commitment to covering rural communities.

“We are the only institute in the country that focuses on how energy policy affects rural America,” Sykuta said. “There’s a lot of energy institutes in the United States. Nobody’s looking at how it affects the rural side of America.”

Cooper Drury, dean of the Mizzou College of Arts and Science, shared insight into the institute at Thursday’s event.

“(The center) is helping rural Missourians and decision-makers better understand how energy policies and technology innovate, affect citizens, farms, businesses and communities,” Drury said. “This information will help our state make informed decisions and pursue progress that brings the benefits for everyone.”

The center’s first paper, titled “Powering Rural Prosperity: The Local Economic Impact of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Developments,” compared economic changes between rural counties that instituted renewable energy programs and those that did not from 2001 to 2023.

Adrienne Ohler, the paper’s lead author and an associate professor of applied economics at Mizzou, shared her findings at the event.

“It looks at, for counties that build wind or build solar, what actually happened in terms of GDP growth,” Ohler said. “It’s a nuanced answer because renewables isn’t meant for every single county.”

The center’s conference followed the $50 million donation from PayneCrest Electric Chairman David Payne on Wednesday for the new Payne Energy Innovation Center, which is expected to open in fall 2028, according to a Mizzou news release.

“This research facility will have scientists (and) engineers, who will collaborate with press, policy, legal and economic experts,” Drury said about the innovation center.

The center’s paper and Payne’s donation come during a crucial time in energy development, said Kurt Schaefer, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

“The decisions that we make today are going to dictate, really, what happens into 2040, 2050,” Schaefer said. “We’re seeing demand of two, possibly up to even three, percent annual growth, potentially even up until 2040. That’s energy growth in base load demand that we have never really seen in this country.”

As energy concerns rise throughout the country, the center plans to continue researching how future legislation will affect rural communities.