In 2017 Australian governments jointly agreed to build enough clean energy to replace ageing coal generators and concentrate them in new Renewable Energy Zones. By 2020 there was significant disquiet in regional areas about hosting clean energy infrastructure, fanned by political actors. The Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney and the Australia Institute came together to dig under the headlines and truly understand the impacts of clean energy development, both good and bad. Dan was lead author of the final study, Renewables & rural Australia, published in 2022. It made recommendations to improve to improve benefit sharing, First Nations participation, management of cumulative impacts and economic coordination. This is the largest social research study into the regional impact of renewable energy developments and is used by the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner to inform how the federal government policy coordinates the clean energy transition in the regions.