Sokaogon Chippewa Community – 2016 Project

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

Summary

Under this project, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community (SCC) will install 605.36 kilowatts (kW) of solar PV facilities on its Reservation that will service approximately 12 to 15 tribal buildings and potentially certain tribal residential units in Forest County, Wisconsin. This project will serve approximately 6.78% of the total energy load on the Reservation.

The Sokaogon Chippewa Tribe occupies a Reservation in Forest County, Wisconsin, within its ancestral homeland. There are currently 1,377 SCC tribal members.

SCC has developed long-term energy goals and visions rooted in its strong commitment to protect Mother Earth and in particular its environmentally sensitive Reservation and treaty resources.

This project is integral to the SCC long-term vision, which is heavily focused on reducing the Tribe’s environmental footprint and its commitment to using energy technologies that are emission free.  SCC is focused on energy projects that will both decrease its costs and provide substantial job opportunities to its members. Accordingly, the SCC long-term vision has the following elements:

• Minimize the Tribe’s energy-related footprint, especially emissions associated with coal-fired power, to the extent possible.
• Work to achieve energy independence using renewable, emission-free resources
• Reduce tribal energy costs to the extent feasible
• Provide training and jobs and other socioeconomic benefits to SCC members
• Become a leader in renewable, emission-free energy deployment to encourage communities to do the same.

The overall goals of the Project are to:

• Decrease use of fossil and especially coal-fired power to reduce the Tribe’s footprint
• Deploy renewable, emission-free energy technology on the Tribe’s Reservation
• Lower tribal energy costs
• Provide substantial training and job opportunities to tribal members
• Provide a replicable model for other low income tribal communities.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

1. Install approximately 605.36 kW of solar PV capacity that serves tribal buildings
2. Significantly reduce the Tribe’s energy bills by approximately $2,041,282 over the project life
3. Substantially lower the Tribe’s environmental footprint.

The expected outcomes of the project are to:

1. Generate approximately 21,014,108 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean energy over the project life
2. Provide economic benefits, including the energy generated, training opportunities, and jobs created during installation and over the life of the project
3. Create a replicable project model for other tribes with limited financial resources
4. Advance the Tribe’s environmental stewardship and protect sensitive wild rice beds and treaty fishing rights
5. Further the Tribe’s goal to reduce its dependence on harmful fossil fuels
6. Advance the Tribe’s long-term vision of becoming energy independent.

The SCC Emission-Free and Treaty Resources Protection Clean Energy Initiative will occur on the SCC Reservation in Forest County, Wisconsin. In particular, the PV facilities, and the buildings they serve will be located at these building sites: Machine Shop, Lift Station, Lift Pump, Housing Office, Day Care, Tribal Administration, Senior Center, Health Services, Youth Center, Hotel, Casino, Apartment Complex, Family Services, Fish Hatchery, and Recycling.

This project is complete. For details, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the U.S. Department of Energy 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 reports provide more information.