There is no formulaic approach for achieving tribal energy sufficiency. After all, each American Indian and Alaska Native community has its own unique energy resources, challenges, and goals. Many Indian tribes have made considerable progress toward achieving their energy goals. Take the Bishop Paiute Tribe as an example. This community, located at the foot of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, must be doing something right. The Tribe is rapidly approaching the 100th residential solar installation on its 523-household Reservation. 

In March 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the Bishop Paiute Tribe was selected for funding to install 120 kilowatts (kW) of solar photovoltaics (PV) on 34 single-family, low-income homes. This latest win represents the Tribe’s third successful competitive bid for DOE funding to advance its energy projects and initiatives, including a 2010 DOE First Steps grant for weatherization core competency development and a 2015 grant to install 22 grid-tied solar electric systems (58 kW) on low-income tribal residences.

When I spoke with the team members implementing the Bishop Paiute Tribe Residential Solar Program, several common themes surfaced again and again. Those themes also happen to be the same features many successful tribal energy projects and initiatives have in common. Though not an exhaustive list of what's needed to develop and deploy a tribal energy project, below are five key elements that worked in the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s favor.

1. SUPPORTIVE LEADERSHIP

The Bishop Paiute’s Tribal Council is made up of five elected tribal members who meet with the greater tribal community to discuss high-priority issues every 3 months. Gaining the support of this leadership group is a required first step toward putting ideas into action.

The Tribe’s Residential Solar Project team was successful in not only getting buy-in from Council members, but also from tribal administration, elders, and other community members. The importance of widespread support cannot be overstated. In fact, the only bolded statement in the Tribe’s Strategic Energy Plan states, "A few project leaders can’t work in a vacuum. Community buy-in is essential because success requires community action."

2. A LOCAL CHAMPION

A project leader must be able to initiate, build, and maintain momentum throughout the life of a large-scale endeavor. For the Bishop Paiute Tribe, Brian Adkins stepped up to be the local champion.

He first began working for the Tribe as a water quality specialist almost 20 years ago and has been the Tribe's environmental director since 2004. In his current position, Adkins seeks out opportunities to improve quality of life for tribal members through sustainable practices. One of his first solar successes resulted from attending a tribal conference sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While there, Adkins met representatives from a nonprofit organization called GRID Alternatives (GRID), who connected him to Bambi Tran, GRID's Inland Empire regional director. This encounter proved pivotal to the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Residential Solar Project.

3. SYNERGISTIC PARTNERSHIPS

GRID has developed a model for making solar technology accessible for low-income communities. Leveraging GRID’s position as the program manager for California's Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) Program, Tran and the GRID team were able to help the Bishop Paiute Tribe install five solar PV systems with rebates from SASH. These early installations provided proof that the concept worked well for the community. 

Equally important was that the partnership proved mutually beneficial. When SASH funding was cut in half, the team searched for other funding sources and applied for a federal grant from the Office of Indian Energy to maintain their momentum.

"Our partnership was strong from the start," said Tran. "The Bishop Paiute Tribe was well prepared to see the proposed project through to completion, from having a lot of homeowners interested in the program to having an in-house grant writer on staff. This was our regional office's first federal grant, so it was great to work with a partner who had that experience before."

4. SKILLED WORKERS

GRID’s staff-led installations are “classrooms on the roof,” where tribal and community volunteers gain hands-on experience in exchange for helping with the solar installations. Following these trainings, GRID works with a pool of vetted local subcontractors to complete more installations. By participating in GRID’s Subcontractor Partnership Program (SPP), these businesses must also provide employment opportunities for the GRID-trained volunteers. The SPP policy mirrored those of the Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO), which works with contractors on the Reservation to encourage, or in some cases require, employment of Native Americans.

So, where do those helping hands come from? “Our Tribe has many individuals with skills and experience gained from multiple housing and public works projects.  In our program, their skills and knowledge have been shown to be very useful through transferable skills such as teamwork, site safety, use of hand and power tools, and, with some individuals, roofing and electrical systems” said Adkins. “The GRID program serves as a launching point for these workers who are interested in adding solar PV installation to their list of skills and an opportunity for those interested in moving up and becoming team leaders in this growing field. An individual can become very employable, very quickly, statewide after gaining skills through the program.

Gary Bacock, TERO Manager for the Bishop Paiute Tribe, played an essential role in finding individuals who were interested in gaining solar installation skills. “Our collaboration with our Environmental Management Office and GRID Alternatives has been very productive,” said Bacock. “It is amazing to see the team effort that goes into installing units on tribal member homes.”  

5. FUNDING SOURCES

Up to 80% of residents on the Bishop Paiute Reservation qualify as low- to moderate-income households. This statistic makes the Tribe eligible for a wealth of resources available through federal, state, and local government programs that, when leveraged with tribal cost-share, can make a big impact on the community. And now the Bishop Paiute Tribe can maintain its momentum toward energy self-sufficiency with this latest DOE co-funded project. Under this project, the Tribe plans to use DOE funding to supplement state and tribal funds and continue its partnership with GRID to install 120 kW of solar PV on 34 more low-income homes on the Bishop Paiute Reservation—saving those homeowners approximately $1.29 million over the life of the systems! This latest phase of the program will be completed through GRID’s SPP, where GRID-vetted local solar contractors will employ qualified tribal individuals as part of their contracts to complete the Reservation installations.

It's not all about the money, though. For example, the Bishop Paiute Tribe applied for and received free on-request technical assistance for strategic energy planning from the Office of Indian Energy as well. In August 2015, experts from DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory led key tribal stakeholders through a process to develop a strategic energy plan that included establishing energy baselines, analyzing resource availability, and identifying short- and long-term energy goals.

So there you have it. These five things have positioned the Bishop Paiute Tribe to strategically solarize the Reservation. And really, all five of these things are about the people involved in the project. From the community supporter who speaks up at a Tribal Council meeting, to the volunteer who shows up to help install solar on a neighbor’s house, to the energy project development experts who coordinate and deliver the technical and financial assistance available through organizations like DOE, if you have good people involved, your tribal energy project can be great.  

Watch a video about how the Office of Indian Energy’s Tribal Energy Deployment Program has helped pave the way for tribal communities to pursue energy visions that reflect and support their cultural values, goals for self-determination, and aspirations for future generations.