Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians – 2016 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The project consists of the design, procurement, and installation of a 1-megawatt alternating current (MWac), ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) system to generate approximately 1,884,686 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually, meeting 91.3% of the annual energy needs of four meters that serve The Country Club.

The Soboba Reservation occupies approximately 7,900 acres at the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County. The tribal community to be served under this project includes 1,320 enrolled members, the majority of whom live on the Reservation.

The Tribe’s long-term energy vision has three objectives:

1. Tribal self-sufficiency to attain greater control of its destiny vs. a state of dependency
2. Cost control in view of rapidly rising electric utility expenses that drain tribal resources (from January to July 2014, the electric rates escalated by 21% for some time-of-use rates)
3. Environmental sensitivity and the use of renewable energy consistent with sustainable development practices.

In 2011, the Tribe undertook a strategic energy planning effort to (1) produce a five-year energy vision statement for the Soboba Tribe to include a minimum 5% benchmark reduction in energy usage for each year; (2) produce a five-year action plan to include specific demand-side and supply-side energy reduction projects; and to (3) produce a corresponding community outreach campaign for addressing benchmark energy reduction goals.

In 2015 the Tribe was awarded funds through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to install a 1-MWac ground-mounted PV system to generate approximately 1,884,686 kWh/year, meeting 80% of the annual energy needs of key community facilities. On July 25, 2016, the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians celebrated the installation of the 1-MW solar PV system.

To continue the Tribe’s efforts to achieve its long-term energy vision, the Soboba Tribe proposes this project to implement the 1-MWac PV system.

The proposed 1-MWac solar PV project is anticipated to provide important benefits:

1. It will benefit every tribal member because the cost of running The Country Club, including electric bills, comes out of the General Fund. The estimated 20-year project savings of $6,264,998 can be redirected to other vital community needs.
2. The Tribe plans to organize and train tribal members to operate and maintain the solar system.
3. The solar project is expected to save 22,832 tons of carbon emissions throughout its lifetime.
4. The project will be a giant step in making the country club nearly energy independent.

Specifically, the solar PV system is a 1-MWac ground-mounted, fixed-tilt system. Its generation output will be transmitted to and interconnected with Southern California Edison's (SCE) 12-kV distribution line, which runs adjacent to the site, in accordance with its Interconnection criteria, and credited at full retail value as a generation credit in accordance with SCE's Aggregate Net Energy Metering program (ANEM). Under ANEM, the subject meters of The Country Club will each receive a credit based on its share of the PV system's total generation to apply toward its electric utility bill. The total allocated generation of 1 MWac for the proposed project falls with the maximum allowed SCE ANEM limit of 1 MWac and satisfies almost 91.3% of the total annual load of all of the meters serving the facility.

The Soboba Reservation occupies approximately 7,900 acres at the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in Riverside County. The project will be located on Soboba Tribal Nation land in western Riverside County in Southern California, specifically on vacant tribal land immediately to the east and north of the water well, and just north of a solar plant that is being built at 24400 Soboba Road.

This project is complete. See the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the DOE Office of Indian Energy’s Fiscal Year 2015 funding opportunity announcement “Deployment of Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Projects on Indian Lands – 2015” (DE-FOA-0001390) and started in July 2016.

The November 2016 and November 2017 project status report provides more information.