White Earth Reservation Tribal Council – 2016 Project

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

Summary

The White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians will install multiple solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for approximately 60.8 kilowatts (kW) of capacity on selected energy efficient, recently built buildings to demonstrate utilization of renewable energy. The installations include solar PV arrays at the Rice Lake Community Center, Rice Lake Daycare Center, and Elbow Lake Community Center, all on Trust land within the boundaries of the White Earth Reservation. The overall electric energy reduction across the three buildings is estimated to be 29.5%.

The White Earth Reservation is one of six member Reservations that constitute the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians is located in northwest Minnesota with an enrollment of 4,096 members on the Reservation, and 10,000 in the vicinity, of the total 17,000 enrolled membership. The Reservation encompasses three Minnesota counties and contains 36 townships (1,300 square miles).

This project integrates with the long-term energy goals of the Tribe and represents a tangible effort to put into practice environmentally sound, low impact, sustainable technologies while potentially creating new technology-based employment for tribal members. With the implementation of these additional solar PV facilities, the Tribe plans to achieve a higher degree of self-sufficiency, operational profitability, and reduced dependence upon nonrenewable fossil fuels.

The White Earth Band of Chippewa Indians is implementing an approximately 60.8-kW solar PV project that has as its goals and objectives to reduce energy costs and increase energy security for Indian tribes and tribal members, add additional renewable energy generation (solar PV) capacity, and offset and reduce coal-fired electric energy demand. The outcome of the installation of the three solar PV systems is estimated at 36.48 kW, 12.16 kW, and 12.16 kW on community facilities, respectively.

Specifically, the project goals and objectives are to:

1. Reduce energy costs
2. Increase energy security for Indian tribes and tribal members
3. Add 60.8 kW in renewable energy generation (solar PV)
4. Reduce coal-fired electric energy demand by 76,397 kilowatt-hours (kWh), 817,448 source energy Btu annually.

The greatest anticipated economic benefit to the Tribe is the reduction of about $8,864 exported funds out of the community annually to benefit the local Native American community. The overall energy reduction is estimated at 76,397 kWh for an annual cost savings of 29.5%. Additionally, approximately four people will receive training or eventual renewable industry employment based upon the skills learned in the installation and operation of the proposed system.

The proposed solar PV systems will be constructed at three existing buildings on the Reservation in northwest Minnesota. Rice Lake Community Center is located at 13830 Community Loop, Bagley; Rice Lake Daycare Center is located at 26209 Water Tower Loop, Bagley; and Elbow Lake Community Center is located at 39988 N. Elbow Lake Drive, Waubun.

The project is complete. For additional details, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy’s (DOE’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 December 2018 project status report provides more information.