Insights

The hidden barriers to clean energy on tribal lands

Despite $14 billion in federal funding, Native communities face unique challenges in building renewables projects.

Written By
GridX
Share This
The hidden barriers to clean energy on tribal lands

When Chéri Smith visited the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana in 2016, she witnessed a paradox: high-voltage transmission lines crossing tribal lands, carrying power to distant cities, while local communities struggled with energy poverty.

“The things that make up the grid in our country have [largely] been built on the backs of Native American tribes and on their lands without their consent,” explained Smith, speaking with Brad Langley on the With Great Power podcast. “There’s 500KV lines going across so many reservations, and they’re not even allowed to tap into that.”

This disconnect helped inspire Smith, a Mi’kmaq Nation descendant and then-head of workforce development at SolarCity, to connect the Northern Cheyenne with SolarCity’s GivePower Foundation. But when Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016, her hopes for broader tribal electrification were put on hold.

In 2018, she launched the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy. While the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act have made $14 billion available for tribal clean energy programs, accessing these funds requires navigating a complex web of technical, financial, and regulatory challenges.

Consider the Hopi Nation’s experience. The tribe is developing a 400-megawatt solar-and-storage project, but just to maintain their place in the grid interconnection queue, they needed to provide $7.5 million in security deposits. “The tribe’s annual budget is $16 million. So you’re asking a tribe to compete with developers who have $7.5 million in that little fifth pocket on the jeans,” said Smith.

The Alliance recently petitioned FERC to waive these interconnection fees for tribes, arguing they should be treated similarly to states. “The argument here is that we’re not speculating,” Smith explained. “There are other indicators of readiness. Everything from signing a tribal resolution to community engagement, to having tribal historic preservation studies committed. If a tribe’s going down that path, they’re serious about it.”

But interconnection costs are just one piece of a larger puzzle. Pre-development work — including engineering studies, feasibility assessments, and tribal historic preservation studies — must be completed before tribes can even apply for federal grants. These essential studies typically aren’t covered by federal funding programs.

To bridge these gaps, the Alliance launched the Indigenous Power and Light Fund for Energy Sovereignty, raising $30 million so far, with $70 million still to go. The fund aims to help tribes clear pre-development hurdles and unlock access to the billions in available federal funding.

“Self-determination is key,” Smith said. “Tribes are sovereign nations. It’s important for us to remember that — and that the tribes be allowed to make decisions that benefit them.”

The Alliance positions itself as a buffer between tribes and other stakeholders, ensuring tribal interests remain central to project development. This is particularly crucial given the historical context of energy development on tribal lands.

“For centuries now, tribes have suffered the effects of colonization, and one of the ways that oppression has been exerted on tribes has been through the wielding of resources like energy,” Smith explained. “Those injustices are what we’re trying to not repeat in this next build out of the grid.”

A significant percentage of land suitable for utility-scale renewable development in the U.S. sits on tribal territories. With proper support and self-determination, tribes could become key partners in America’s clean energy transition while building economic sovereignty.

For the full conversation with Chéri Smith, listen to her interview on season 4 of With Great Power here.

With Great Power is a show about the people building the future grid, today. It’s a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on AppleSpotify, or anywhere you get your shows.

Read the original article from Latitude Media here.

GridX Nabs a Communicator Award for With Great Power

GridX Nabs a Communicator Award for With Great Power

With Great Power recognized for exceeding industry standards in business-to-business communications.

Published
Topics
Category