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- By Jenna Kunze
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The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded nearly $9 Million in funding to 13 Native American communities today for projects that will increase alternate energy, lower energy prices, and increase energy security on tribal lands.
The competitive grants were awarded to tribes from Arizona, California, Idaho and Washington.
According to a Departments press release, these projects will provide clean electricity to communities, power residential buildings without electricity, install microgrids, and increase workforce training opportunities.
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The largest grants were given to the Navajo Nation in Arizona for $2.8 million, and the Karuk Tribe of Northern California for nearly the same amount. Half of the amount was matched by the tribe in cost sharing.
The Navajo Nation will use the funds to build a microgrid that will provide power and internet to one of its communities without power. The Karuk Tribe will use the money for a ground-mounted solar array to power its tribal casino and administrative trailers. A second roof solar panel will power the tribe’s wellness center. The solar panel systems will save the tribe more than $9.8 million cumulatively.
The Karuk Tribe was awarded a second grant by Department of Energy to help install battery storage in 39 elderly homes. This will provide power for critical infrastructure when the grid is down.
Another innovative recipient was the Western AlaskaKawerak, Inc., a tribal corporation that received funding to help power 18 tribal buildings with power from a local hotspring. According to the Department of Energy the project is designed to achieve long-term goals of eliminating fossil fuel dependence at the site, provide local food production with geothermal heat, and allow economic development of this historic location, which is 60 miles north of Nome.
Click HereYou can read more about each selected project.
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About the Author
Staff Writer
Jenna Kunze reports for Native News Online, Tribal Business News. Her bylines have appeared on The Arctic Sounder (High Country News), Indian Country Today, Smithsonian Magazine, Anchorage Daily News, and Indian Country Today. In 2020, she was among 16 U.S. journalists who were selected by Pulitzer Center to report about the effects of climate change on the Alaskan Arctic region. She was previously the lead reporter at Chilkat Valley News, Haines, Alaska. Kunze is based out of New York.
