Liz Kalies

Liz Kalies is the Lead Renewable Energy Scientist for the North America region of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and an adjunct associate professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. At TNC, she develops sound science to support the clean energy transition, focused on renewable energy siting and design practices. With over 25 peer-reviewed publications, she has been quoted in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and PV Magazine for her research on wildlife use of solar facilities. Liz won the NC Sustainable Energy Association's Clean Energy Innovator of the Year Award in 2019, and she serves on the Renewable Energy Wildlife Institute research committee, several national advisory boards for DOE-funded research projects, and as a co-chair on the Solar Uncommon Dialogue. She has a PhD in wildlife ecology from Northern Arizona University, a master’s degree in ecology from Yale University, and a BS in biology from Cornell University.

Publications:
Levin, M.O., L.E.K. Serieys, E.L. Kalies, T.M. Harrison, D. Sossover, E. Edwards, and R.W. Kays. 2026. Wildlife movement models can inform large, ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy siting and design: A case study and research agenda. Case Studies in the Environment.

Levin, M.O., E. Forester, E.L. Kalies, L. Goodman, J.S. Hagani, C.C. Holmes, N. Z. Krasner, C. Markus, J.B. Meek, A. Vanamamalai, S. Agarwal, U. Ashraf, D. Condon, D. Forester, L.C.V. Holland, E. Jackson, M. Levin, P.F. McKenzie, B.P. Narwold, L.E. Norton, B. Rodgers, L.C. Cheadle, D.B. Dayan, J. Dayan, A. Levin, and R.R. Hernandez. 2025. Variation in estimates of the footprint of large, ground-mounted photovoltaic solar energy in the United States and its associated land-cover change across three datasets. Journal of Environmental Management (394)127634.

Levin, M.O., D. Condon, N.Z. Krasner, E. Forester, C.C. Holmes, B.L. Bateman, A. Delach, J.R. Ennen, E.L. Kalies, R. Kays, J.E. Lovich, A.B. Smith, G.C. Wu, and R.R. Hernandez. 2025. Bibliographic synthesis of biodiversity-relevant criteria for solar energy siting. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 223(116026).

Gallaher, A., E.L. Kalies, and S.M. Grodsky. 2025. Sustainability trade-offs across modeled floating solar waterscapes of the northeastern United States. Cell Reports Sustainability. 10.1016/j.crsus.2025.100423.

The Nature Conservancy (co-author). 2023. Power of Place. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/power-of-place/

Levin, M.O., E.L. Kalies, E. Forester, E.L.A. Jackson, A.H. Levin, C. Markus, P.F. McKenzie, J.B. Meek, and R.R. Hernandez. 2023. Solar energy-driven land-cover change could alter landscapes critical to animal movement in the continental United States. Environmental Science & Technology 57(31):11499-11509.

Kalies, E.L. 2023. Principles of low impact solar siting and design. North Carolina chapter of the Nature Conservancy. https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/2023SolarGuidanceTNCNC.pdf

Feng, X., S. Li, E.L. Kalies, C. Markus, P. Harrell, and D. Patiño-Echeverri. 2023. Low impact siting for wind power facilities in the Southeast United States. Wind Energy 26(12):1254-75.