Bear River Band Rohnerville Rancheria – 2017 Project

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

Summary

The Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria (BRB) will develop an analysis of renewable energy options that focus on BRB’s strategic vision of “zero net annual utility energy consumption”. The objective of this effort is a comprehensive analysis that will result in a thorough understanding of BRB’s tribal energy resources and tribal energy loads, including current and future energy consumption. The project will provide 1) a comprehensive analysis of “demand-side” options that reduce energy consumption and optimize the hourly and seasonal load profile of BRB’s residential and commercial properties and 2) an evaluation of local and commercial “supply-side” options that will address conventional and non-conventional sources with a focus on renewable energy opportunities.

The Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, along with 16 other California tribes, regained their federal recognition status in 1983 by a class-action lawsuit known as the Tillie-Hardwick case. Due to the newness of the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria as a federally recognized Indian tribe, services the Tribe currently provides to its members are limited. It is the direction of the Tribe to sustain funding for planning, capacity building, self-sufficiency, health and safety, education, housing, employment, economic development, cultural rejuvenation, and projects that promote the protection of natural and cultural resources.

Over the past few years, the Tribe has made significant strides toward the goal of environmentally responsible energy self-sufficiency evident by projects and studies toward achieving energy sufficiency through renewable resources. The Bear River Tribe developed a Strategic Energy Plan in 2014 that identified consensus vision toward energy independence; unifying the Tribe’s foundation; and toward a sustainable, safe, and healthy life. This project will allow the Tribe to get one step closer to its strategic vision of “zero net annual utility energy consumption” by generating an actionable implementation plan that describes specific energy development options that the Tribe can defensibly and measurably prioritize.

The Bear River Tribe proposes to complete a detailed assessment of energy solutions and comprehensive implementation plan in an effort to move toward development of energy sufficiency in alignment with BRB’s strategic vision of “zero net annual utility energy consumption.” The objective of this effort is a comprehensive analysis that will result in a thorough understanding of BRB’s tribal energy resources and tribal energy loads, including current and future energy consumption. The project will provide a comprehensive analysis of “demand-side” options that reduce energy consumption and optimize the hourly and seasonal load profile of BRB’s residential and commercial properties. The project will also provide an evaluation of local and commercial “supply-side” options that will address conventional and nonconventional sources with a focus on renewable energy opportunities.

The primary deliverable of this project will be a clear and actionable implementation plan that will both build upon and carry forward the work that BRB has implemented to date. To guide the development of this plan during the project, a committee composed of tribal stakeholders will be formed to identify measureable decision criteria that align with the Tribe’s Strategic Vision, and to guide the development of energy options by measuring them against these decision criteria.

Activities toward achieving project goals include leveraging previous work to project a future baseline load; reviewing and analyzing renewable energy generation data; building on previous work to identify demand-side management opportunities; assessing existing infrastructure and its readiness for integrating renewable energy infrastructure; and developing an energy options implementation plan.

Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria has 608 enrolled tribal members with membership increasing at an average annual rate of 9.5%. The Tribe provides water/sewer service to 61 residential connections representing a population with a 56% unemployment rate. The proposed project area will include Tish Non Village and Census Tract 108 located in Loleta, California. The entire population served by this project is classified as an economically disadvantaged community. 

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 Fiscal Year 2016 funding opportunity announcement “First Steps Toward Developing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency on Tribal Lands – 2016” (DE-FOA-0001621) and started in August 2017.

The November 2018 project status report provides more information.