The Office of Indian Energy Indian Energy Beat Spring/Summer 2015 newsletter highlights opportunities and actions to accelerate energy development ...
Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs
May 2, 2016
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SPRING/SUMMER 2016: NEWS ON ACTIONS TO ACCELERATE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN INDIAN COUNTRY
The Office of Indian Energy Indian Energy Beat newsletter highlights opportunities and actions to accelerate energy development in Indian Country. Browse stories below, view newsletter feature articles.
OPENING DOORS
DOE Invests $9 Million in Tribal Energy Projects
“The Energy Department is committed to maximizing the development and deployment of energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives,” he said during his keynote address. “By providing tribal communities and Alaska Native villages with knowledge, skills, and resources, we hope to help tribal communities harness their local indigenous renewable energy resources, reduce their energy costs, create jobs, and help implement successful strategic energy solutions.”
Read the full press release.
Bishop Paiute Tribe's Solar Program Gains Momentum
The Bishop Paiute Tribe was among the 24 communities selected in March to receive DOE funding for clean energy projects. DOE’s $341,000 investment will co-fund the installation of 120 kilowatts of solar photovoltaics on 34 single-family, low-income homes on the Reservation.
The Bishop Paiute Tribe is rapidly approaching the 100th residential solar installation on its 523-household Reservation. Read about the five pillars of success that were foundational to its ongoing progress—and learn how they can work to the advantage of other tribal communities working toward energy sufficiency on our blog, “Five Things That Make a Good Tribal Energy Project Great.”
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,
The Office of Indian Energy is proud to stand behind the visionary leadership exemplified by the American Indian and Alaska Native communities recently awarded DOE funding and technical assistance for a diverse array of energy projects.
Each of the 24 communities selected for awards through the Office of Indian Energy’s Deployment of Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency on Tribal Lands funding opportunity has invested considerable time and resources developing proposals for projects they identified as impactful and actionable means of increasing energy self-sufficiency and strengthening their tribal economies. Each obtained official support through Tribal Council resolutions. Each submitted strategic proposals for funding through a competitive process. And now, each has secured the DOE funding support needed to move their projects forward.
The $9 million Office of Indian Energy investment will be leveraged by nearly $16 million in tribal cost-share, bringing the total value of the projects to more than $25 million. Collectively, these strategic energy solutions are expected save the communities three times that amount—more than $75 million—in estimated energy costs over the life of the installations.
Read the full message from Director Deschene.
WINNING THE FUTURE
Seneca Nation of Indians Leverages DOE Support for Wind Turbine Project
More than a decade ago, the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI or the Seneca Nation) embarked on the development of a strategic energy plan, using a 2003 First Steps grant from DOE to develop its vision of energy self-sufficiency, quantify its energy needs and resources, and identify its energy options. The Seneca Nation secured additional DOE funding in 2007, in part to advance its goal of displacing fossil and nuclear fuel sources with tribally owned renewable power. That same year, the Tribe sought technical assistance through DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to assess the available wind resource potential on SNI lands, which consist of five distinct and noncontiguous territories in western New York. That effort, completed in 2009, revealed a substantial resource, making the installation of a community-scale wind turbine along the eastern shore of Lake Erie a viable project. In 2014, the SNI Wind Turbine Project was competitively selected for a $1.5 million DOE grant, and on April 27, 2016, the Seneca Nation broke ground on a 1.5-megawatt (MW) turbine, which is scheduled to be operational by the end of the year.
Read more about the Seneca Nation wind project in our blog.
BUILDING BRIDGES
Tribal Housing Authorities: Advancing Energy Projects Through Informed Collaboration
Tribal housing authorities often play a major role in facilitating energy development projects for the communities they serve. In fact, of the 16 projects selected to receive funding from the Office of Indian Energy in March 2016, two are headed up by housing authorities.
We asked Retha Herne, Executive Director of the Akwesasne Housing Authority in Hogansburg, New York, and Darien Cabral, Director of Development for the Northern Pueblos Housing Authority in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to share some of the insights and lessons they culled from their experience leading solar projects for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and the Picuris Pueblo.
Learn more about the strategies and tactics that helped Herne and Cabral get their solar projects off the ground in our blog about these two tribal housing authorities.
LEADING THE CHARGE
Lizana Pierce: Longtime DOE Champion of Tribal Clean Energy Development
Leading the Charge is a regular feature spotlighting the movers and shakers in energy development on tribal lands. This issue we had the opportunity to speak with Office of Indian Energy Engineer and Program Manager Lizana Pierce. Pierce joined the Office of Indian Energy in July 2015, bringing with her more than 15 years of experience leading the Tribal Energy Program under DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. She is now responsible for implementing the Office of Indian Energy’s funding and financing program, and administering the resultant tribal energy project grants and agreements. Pierce works out of Golden, Colorado, co-located with NREL.
In our interview, Pierce emphasized DOE’s history of relying on tribal input to prioritize the needs of Indian Country, pointing to the successes that have resulted, including:
- Retrofitting 70 tribal buildings, which saved Indian tribes more than 10 million kilowatt-hours of energy and $2.5 million per year
- Completing energy audits on more than 250 tribal buildings
- Moving more than 580 MW of potential renewable energy generation toward development
- Training more than 170 tribal members as part of these tribal energy projects.
Pierce said it’s the human impacts of those successes that motivate and energize her. “We are touching people’s lives and seeing that we are making a difference—one tribe, one person, one project, one student intern at a time,” she said.
Read our full interview with Pierce.
SHARING KNOWLEDGE
Got Data?
Many Indian tribes have established energy efficiency and renewable energy goals. But, how do you know what goal to set and when you’ve reached or exceeded that goal? To measure energy savings and verify the effectiveness of energy programs and projects, it is important to first have a baseline of how much energy your community is currently using and how much it costs. Having energy data in hand can also be extremely useful when applying for grants or technical assistance. For more about the importance of energy data and types of data to collect, check out this interactive graphic.
INDIAN COUNTRY ENERGY ROUNDUP
Over the past couple months, Office of Indian Energy staff traveled throughout the contiguous United States and Alaska to help build capacity, deliver energy project technical assistance, and provide information sharing opportunities to tribal communities. View the slideshow.