Exciting New Native American Renewable Energy Projects
The US Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Renewable and Distributed Generation provides financing and renewable energy guidance for projects that impact 2.7 million Native Americans. There are 574 recognized tribes in the US in addition to Alaska Natives. The BIA work presently encompasses the efforts of 144 tribes in 25 states to become energy self-sufficient and encompasses everything from geothermal proposals in Alaska to vast renewable solar farms in Colorado and South Dakota. In 2022 alone, they provided more than $10 million to Native American funding projects. They have worked closely with the federal Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy and Programs, which has provided funds to 210 tribal energy projects totaling 46 megawatts.
There is interest in determining what lessons can be drawn from these projects for the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL). Native Hawaiians do not have the same treaty rights as Native Americans, but they can get support for their projects from federal agencies.
The BIA's renewable and distributed energy branch provides “front-end planning.”
Phase 1: Planning and Feasibility
Phase 2: Detailed Scoping and Refinement
Phase 3: Secure Contracts, Permits, and Financing
Each tribe has a different plan, and the BIA helps them fulfill it. The Mountain Ute Tribe, for example, has solar panel farms that cover the entire electricity costs of their casino. They are proposing, together with Canigou Group, the creation of the Sun Bear Solar Farm near Towaoc, which will have 2.2 million solar panels and be eight miles long and one mile wide. The capacity will be 756 MW. The cost will be $1 billion and it will provide power throughout the Western States.
Other projects have been done in Montana for the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, who plan to install and operate a 660-kW wind turbine in Poplar, Montana. It will provide an estimated 2,000,000 kilowatt hours that will be “proportionately distributed between the Tribal Building, Fort Peck Community College (FPCC), and Assiniboine & Sioux Tribal Industries.” The project will provide training and jobs for tribal members and a source of inexpensive power for the tribal building, community college, and tribal industry.
Some of the other projects the BIA has been involved in include the Taholah Village Energy Park in Washington State.
The process can be very arduous, but the BIA and the Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy and Programs can point to a number of successes, including the Karuk Tribe in California, Blackfeet Community College in Northwest Montana, and energy efficiency for the Oneida Nation in upstate New York.
