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Sarah Conley-Ballew (she/her/hers)

Assistant Director
Solar and Storage Industries Institute (SI2)
Athens, Ohio, United States

Sarah Conley-Ballew serves as the Assistant Director of Development at Solar and Storage Industries Institute. Prior to joining SI2, Sarah was the founding Director of Rural Action’s Sustainable Energy Solutions Program, an initiative focused on catalyzing clean energy development in Appalachian Ohio by supporting regional efforts to scale up energy efficiency, renewable energy, and clean transportation initiatives. She led a 3-year DOE-funded project to advance electric vehicle adoption and the development of EV charging infrastructure and provided technical assistance to small businesses and agricultural producers seeking USDA REAP grant funding.

Sarah was also the founding Executive Director of UpGrade Ohio, a nonprofit organization that formed as a result of Athens County’s participation in the Georgetown University Energy Prize Challenge in 2015. The Challenge offered a $5 million prize purse to a community that reduced its energy use by the greatest degree over a two-year period. Athens County was not the grand prize winner, but as a result of UpGrade Ohio’s efforts, it successfully reduced residential and municipal energy use by 3%, which is roughly the equivalent of $5 million in collective savings.

Sarah also served as a SolSmart Advisor in 2017, providing technical support to four Appalachian Ohio communities by streamlining policies and procedures that reduce the soft costs associated with solar development. These communities were among the first rural municipalities in the country to participate in the SolSmart program, and Sarah’s work contributed key insights into advancing solar in underserved rural communities. Conley-Ballew received the Midwest Energy News 40 Under 40 Award in 2019 and was a Clean Energy Leadership Institute (CELI) Fellow in 2022. Sarah lives in Athens County Ohio with her three magical children, homesteading in the bountiful Appalachian foothills.

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