OAKLAND, CA – Sixteen grants totaling $2.8 million to tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal colleges have been awarded for new tribal facilities and residential solar projects from the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund (TSAF), a tribally-led grantmaking program of GRID alternatives that aims to catalyze the growth of solar energy and expand solar job opportunities in tribal communities across the U.S.
From 2018-2021, the TSAF has disbursed over $4.1 million in funding to support the advancement of tribal energy security and resilience and provide solar workforce development opportunities for tribal members.
“Renewable energy development in tribal communities is essential and imminent to a tribe’s ability to become energy resilient and energy sovereign,” said Tanksi Clairmont (Lakota), Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund Managing Director. “Ultimately, we want to uplift the unique and innovative ways tribes are climate actors who are always looking seven generations into the future.”
Since its launch in 2018, TSAF funding has supported the solar-ready projects of 30 tribes and tribal organizations in 12 states, totaling 1.8 megawatts of renewable energy. That solar capacity translates into over $10.9 million in lifetime energy savings and workforce development opportunities for nearly 200 tribal members.
The 2022-2023 Tribal Facility and Residential Solar Project grantees include:
- La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians
- Big Pine Paiute
- Cahuilla Band of Indians
- Pit River Tribe
- Robinson Rancheria
- The Yurok Tribe
- Ojo Encino Chapter of the Navajo Nation
- Santa Ana Pueblo
- Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe
- Native Renewables
- Northwest Indian College
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
- Bay Mills Indian Community
- College of Menominee Nation
- Shinnecock Nation
- Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College
- Cook Inlet Housing Authority
