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I learned about the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy College Student Internship Program at Sandia National Laboratories when I was an undergraduate in the Renewable Energy program at Illinois State University. I was immediately attracted to it. I thought it would be the perfect program to experience what it means to work with a tribe as the tribe pursues renewable energy projects. The program certainly met these expectations, but it was so much more, too.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Providers Conference held in Anchorage, Alaska, Nov. 29 to Dec. 2, 2016, brought together an array of federal government agencies and state, tribal, and local representatives who serve Alaska Natives. As contractors to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy, we attended this conference, in part to conduct interviews on the challenges to developing renewable energy in Alaska Native communities.

In October, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partnered with GRID Alternatives to provide a valuable training experience to the technical staffs of five Indian tribes from around the country.

Hau, Mitakuyapi – Hello! My name is Kimberlynn Cameron. I grew up in Wakpala, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, and I am an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Geological Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), where currently I am a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering.

Remote Alaska Communities Energy Efficiency Competition helps communities implement energy solutions that can be replicated throughout rural Alaska and potentially other Arctic regions.

In May 2015 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy announced its selection of five Alaska Native villages to receive technical assistance to accelerate clean energy projects and initiatives through the Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program.

In response to growing demand for credible, unbiased information about developing small hydropower projects in Alaska, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy hosted the first-ever DOE Tribal Hydropower Forum in Anchorage on Sept. 21, 2016.

In this installment, we caught up with Eric Hanssen, Program Manager of the Alaska Native Health Consortium (ANTHC’s) Rural Energy Initiative for an interview highlighting the entire ANTHC team as a champion of clean, affordable, and sustainable energy development in Alaska. The ANTHC Rural Energy Initiative Program team includes Gavin Dixon, Eric Hanssen, Kevin Ulrich,
Sharnel Vale, Tashina Duttle, and Bailey Gambell.

The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians (the Band) held a ceremony celebrating the completion of a 1-megawatt (MW) solar project on the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation in Cloquet, Minnesota, on Aug. 23, 2016.

Construction on the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s 1.3-megawatt ground-mounted solar array in Ignacio, Colorado, will begin in early September, according to Namaste Solar, an employee-owned cooperative that will design, develop, and construct the solar array.

The Energy Department is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Weatherization Assistance Program, which has retrofitted more than 7 million homes across the U.S. and has led the nation in advancing technology, research, and applied scientific practices to make homes energy efficient.

On July 25, the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians (Tribe) celebrated the installation of a 1-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) system on its approximately 7,000-acre Reservation in the foothills of the San Jacinto Valley in Southern California.

I’m driven by a critical mission: to maximize the development and deployment of energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Our blueprint for fulfilling this mission has three programmatic pillars: Deployment, Innovation, and Policy. They’re equally important, but in this blog post I’m going to focus on the Deployment Program.

Environmental Engineering Intern Rachael Boothe from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) on hand during the Ute Mountain Ute Youth Energy Workshop held on July 6 at the Ute Mountain Recreation Center.

Some people may find it hard to get excited about a brochure. But an informative outreach piece can be a very powerful tool. That's why I'm excited to announce the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy’s program overview brochure recently received a prestigious Award for Publication Excellence, also known as an APEX Award.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy hosted a System Advisor Model (SAM) Training at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. We were excited to be on NAU’s campus and work in collaboration with their Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, which seeks to strengthen tribal capacity.

For many centuries, the 23-mile stretch of Pacific coastline on Washington's Olympic Peninsula has been home to the Quinault Indian Nation (Tribe). The Quinault Indian Reservation, a triangular tract of land comprising more than 200,000 acres, includes the villages of Taholah, Queets, and Amanda Park. The Reservation’s western boundary is among the few undeveloped shorelines remaining in the United States.

Thirteen Native Alaska villages thirteen are developing unique plans to reduce per capita energy consumption 15% by 2020 with technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy. This is a $4 million effort by remote Alaskan communities to adopt sustainable energy strategies and thereby help alleviate high energy costs.

Support from the Energy Department’s State Energy Program (SEP), is helping Alaska building managers and facility owners understand best practices for energy efficiency retrofits and retro-commissioning, and tools for monitoring and improving energy use in remote villages.

Last month, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy, I had the privilege of taking my students from the Buckland School to the Alaska Rural Energy Conference in Fairbanks. Students presented to conference attendees and watched presentations from national, regional, state, and local energy experts that tied into the clean energy issues they are studying as part of the Alaska Humanities Forum Sister School Exchange program.

There is no formulaic approach for achieving tribal energy sufficiency. After all, each American Indian and Alaska Native community has its own unique energy resources, challenges, and goals. Many Indian tribes have made considerable progress toward achieving their energy goals. Take the Bishop Paiute Tribe as an example. This community, located at the foot of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, must be doing something right. The Tribe is rapidly approaching the 100th residential solar installation on its 523-household Reservation. 

Tribal housing authorities often play a major role in facilitating energy development projects for the communities they serve. In fact, of the 16 projects selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy in March, two are headed up by housing authorities.

Dear Friends,

The Office of Indian Energy is proud to stand behind the visionary leadership exemplified by the American Indian and Alaska Native communities recently selected to receive U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding and technical assistance for a diverse array of energy projects.

The Blue Lake Rancheria (Tribe) is on the fast track to a clean energy future, and on May 3, 2016, the Tribe hit a new milestone as construction of its 500-kilowatt (kW) solar array got underway. The solar system is a cornerstone of the Tribe’s low-carbon, community-scale microgrid project, scheduled to be online by year-end.

The Seneca Nation sought support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a strategic energy plan. The Seneca Nation of Indians was competitively selected for a First Steps grant to develop its vision of energy self-sufficiency, quantify its energy needs and resources, and identify its energy options.