Helping Farmers Participate in the Clean Energy Shift: Mike Katz, RELA

Mike Katz is the CEO of RELA, a company dedicated to helping farmers secure good outcomes when hosting renewable energy projects – such as wind farms or solar farms – on their agricultural land. With a background in finance, economics and professional sport, Mike is now building RELA as a marketplace to match landowners with renewables developers. The offer is based on transparency, negotiation and expert guidance through a complex and unfamiliar process.

The photographs follow Mike in action – presenting at a seminar of farmers in Dubbo, engaging with business students at UNSW undertaking a project to inform RELA’s strategy, and at the Cattle Connect conference in Tamworth. His role is not about technology or machinery – it’s about enabling. This includes helping farmers understand valuation, contracts, planning, and connection with developers.

Mike’s work shows that the energy transition is not only about technology and infrastructure. It is also about intermediaries who bridge the worlds of the farmers, who for generations have produced the food to sustain the nation, with the companies with the capabilities to build the renewable power that will replace coal and provide for future demand.