Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians – 2017 Project

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

Summary

Over the past five years, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians has performed extensive analysis on its existing electric utility loads, infrastructure, resources, and opportunities. As a result, the Band formed the Pechanga Tribal Utility (PTU) to provide electric service to the Tribe’s commercial buildings and government center. In the long term, the Tribe aspires to serve its entire Reservation, including the 300 tribal residences on the Reservation, as well as nontribal businesses operating within Reservation boundaries. This project will determine the feasibility of serving tribal residences, identify preferred demand-side and supply-side options, and inform business planning for such an expansion.

The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, based in Riverside County, California, has called the Temecula Valley home for more than 10,000 years. The Tribe on the Pechanga Indian Reservation has some 1,823 members and about 300 tribal member households on the Reservation. The Tribe aspires to maximize its self-determination as a sovereign tribal government by, among other things, being energy self-sufficient and serving all Reservation loads with the PTU.

The PTU was formed to provide electric service to the Tribe’s commercial buildings and government center, and it aspires to serve its entire Rreservation. With a basic framework in place, the Tribe’s goal and vision is to build the systems needed to successfully operate the utility, carefully expand the distribution system, and increase its generation capacity to include energy from renewable sources. This project will focus on the next phase of the PTU’s growth to serve the residential area. Reports generated from this project will clarify, estimate, and determine feasibility. This work will allow the Tribe to create long-lasting, professional, and successful utility expansion, and allow it to make initial design decisions and long-term energy purchase decisions that assure a well-run, low-cost, and low-risk tribal utility.

This project will study the feasibility and identify the preferred options necessary to allow the PTU to carefully and thoughtfully expand—from providing electrical service to the Tribe’s enterprises and government center loads, to also providing electrical service to the Tribe’s more than 300 residential loads and potential future nontribal commercial loads. Three reports will be generated by this project to inform business planning and decision-making for utility expansion. The reports will include: 1) Loads and Demand-Side Options, 2) Distribution System Expansion, and 3) Power Supply.

The first report, Loads and Demand-Side Options, will provide a detailed analysis of the current and forecasted electrical loads within the Tribe’s residential area; determine the best options for residential renewable energy; and explore demand-side options. This demand-side review and analysis will result in identifying the potential decrease in expected loads from energy efficiency measures and renewable options.  

The second report, Distribution System Expansion, will review options for metering and extension of the distribution facilities, including cost and equipment needed. This professional engineering report will provide recommendations for facilities construction, costs, and facilities acquisition.

The final report, Power Supply, will identify and compare the local and commercial energy supply options for serving the loads. It will compare projected costs, risks, and benefits of options for power supply. The goal is to reduce overall costs to consumers by 8¢ per kilowatt-hour.

This project will also include the evaluation of the appropriate cost of facilities to be acquired and further assist the Tribe in their decisions related to appropriate design and construction of new facilities.

This project will serve the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians of the Pechanga Indian Reservation in Temecula, California. Today, the gross total land area of the Pechanga Indian Reservation in Riverside County is about 7,080 acres. The Tribe has some 1,823 members, and about 300 tribal member households are located on the Reservation.

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 September 2017.

The November 2017, December 2018, December 2020, and November 2021 project status report provides more information.