Indian Country Energy Roundup: FY15 Year in Review

Meeting with DOE and representatives from the Renewable Energy Alaska Project.

DOE Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene going to work Alaska-style.

Alaska facility- and community-scale energy project development workshop.

Alaska facility- and community-scale energy project development workshop.

Going to work Alaska-style.

From left to right: DOE Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene, Chief Operating Office Michael L. Rodrigue, and Alaska Program Manager Givey Kochanowski.

DOE Office of Indian Energy, Alaska Energy Authority, STG Inc., and Kotzebue Electric Association staff touring the Kotzebue wind farm in August. This innovative co-op debuted wind above the Arctic Circle nearly 20 years ago. Thermo-siphons are used to keep permafrost frozen.

At a ground-mounted solar installation in Buckland, Alaska.

DOE Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene, along with State of Alaska and Northwest Arctic Borough officials, conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for two Northwind 100 wind turbines in Buckland, Alaska, on August 7.

At a ground-mounted solar installation in Buckland, Alaska.

Members of the DOE Office of Indian Energy team in Hoonah, Alaska. Senior Policy Advisor Doug MacCourt is shown on the far right, followed by Givey Kochanowski and Chris Deschene.

At the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks, Alaska.

GRID Alternatives hosted a Tribal Solarthon event Sept. 28–Oct. 2 at the Bishop Paiute Reservation in California.

Keyton McGuire, a solar installation supervisor from GRID Alternatives, and Karen Petersen, a volunteer from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, install a solar array on the home of Bishop Paiute resident Rosalie Fimbres—the first of 22 planned for the second round of residential solar photovoltaic systems to be installed on the Bishop Paiute Reservation under a DOE grant.

DOE Office of Indian Energy interns Tommy Jones, Kimberlynn Cameron, Sandra Begay-Campbell, Chris Deschene, JoDonna John, Brittany Anstead, and Len Necefer with Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene at Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Office of Indian Energy Director Christopher Clark Deschene touring the Energy Systems Integration Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Tribal Energy Program intern Tommy Jones with DOE Office of Indian Energy Deputy Director David Conrad and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz.

Six photovoltaic arrays generate 32 kilowatts of energy to power 20 units at the Akwesasne Housing Authority’s (AHA) Sunrise Acres housing complex on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. Pictured from left to right are Paul Kabotie of Indigenous Collaboration, Inc., Rachel Sullivan of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Cecil Ransom of AHA, Sandra Begay-Campbell of Sandia National Laboratories, and Sheila Loran of AHA.

Over the course of three days, more than 40 people attended the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s strategic energy planning workshop in June 2015. Some of the participants, along with representatives from two of DOE’s national laboratories and the workshop facilitators, are pictured here.

Participants at the Commercial-Scale Project Development and Finance Workshop held Sept. 1–3 in Denver, Colorado.

DOE Office of Indian Energy Program Manager Lizana Pierce assists attendees with a resource mapping exercise at the Commercial-Scale Project Development and Finance Workshop in Denver, Colorado.

DOE Office of Indian Energy Program Manager for the 48 Contiguous States Sarai Geary at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona.

Launch of a new microgrid project in August 2015 at Blue Lake Rancheria in California.

DOE Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene participates in the groundbreaking ceremony for Blue Lake Rancheria’s new microgrid project.

Secretary of Energy Moniz with attendees at a welcome lunch for Arizona tribal leaders.

Behind the scenes at San Carlos Apache’s solar-powered radio station in Arizona.

At the solar-powered, energy-efficient Tonto Apache Tribal Administration Building in Arizona.