Colusa Indian Community Council Solar Canopy Expansion – 2019 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The Colusa Indian Community Council will develop a solar photovoltaic (PV) system integrated with a carport canopy in the parking lot of the Colusa Casino Resort.The project consists of four canopy structures and nearly 450 kilowatts (kW) of solar PV.

The project will interconnect with the existing Tribe-owned microgrid generation system at medium voltage and will use existing electrical infrastructure from the existing parking lot canopy solar system to reduce system costs. The project will supply power to 10 tribal buildings.

The proposed solar PV system will offset energy use from more expensive existing sources, specifically the Tribe-owned gas-fired engine generators and the local electric utility, saving more than $5 million over the life of the project and offsetting approximately 6.5% of the existing use on the microgrid generation system.

On November 23, 1941, the constitution and bylaws for the Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community were ratified and adopted by the Tribe’s original 45 members. At the time of ratification, the Colusa Indian Community resided in the heart of Northern California’s agricultural land on an 80-acre Reservation.

This original site stretched along the bountiful Sacramento River, about four miles north of the Colusa city limits on Highway 45. Two years later, the Tribe’s land increased an additional 210 acres just one mile south of the original Reservation, which is where the current Colusa Casino and Cachil Dehe Village Complex stand today. The Colusa Indian Community has grown and prospered to its current 150-plus members.

The Colusa Indian Community owns and operates the Colusa Casino Resort, which is powered by the Tribe-owned and operated cogeneration plant. The cogeneration plant is one of the crowning achievements of the Tribe, supporting the electric, cooling, and heating loads of the Colusa Casino Resort, which otherwise could not be fully supported by the electric utility due to the rural location and limited electric distribution.

The cogeneration plant operates islanded and autonomous from the local electric utility and includes existing solar PV generation with an alternating current (AC) nameplate rating of 336 kW and over 6 mega volt amps (MVA) of conventional generation. Beginning with an initial investment in conventional gas-fired engine generators, the Tribe has committed its own money and resources to develop the cogeneration plant from the ground up.

The cogeneration plant now includes a 4 MVA uninterruptible power supply and medium-voltage distribution to the tribal administration buildings, a wellness center, water and wastewater treatment plants, and housing, and it employs 12 full-time staff of trained technicians. For the past 7 years, the cogeneration plant has supplied power to the community without a single unplanned electrical outage, despite a number of construction projects to expand its capacity and capabilities.

This project is to install a 507.6-kW direct current (DC) solar PV system integrated with a carport canopy in the parking lot to the east of the Colusa Casino Resort and north of the existing parking canopy solar system. The new solar PV system will interconnect with the existing Tribe-owned microgrid generation system at medium-voltage and will use existing electrical infrastructure from the existing parking lot canopy solar system to reduce system costs. The project goals and objectives integrate into the Tribe’s long-term energy goals and vision by providing low-cost, self-sufficient energy supply to the community. A similar parking-lot solar canopy project was successfully completed by the Tribe several years ago, and the proposed project will expand upon the Tribe’s use of renewable energy to meet its growing energy needs.

This project will offset energy use from more expensive existing sources, specifically the Tribe-owned gas-fired engine generators providing the primary power source for existing tribal facilities and the electric utility, which provides an alternate source. This solar PV system is a renewable source, which has the benefit of reducing reliance on fossil-fuel burning sources. By reducing demand on existing Tribe-owned conventional generators, the project will avoid the need to add more conventional generation and prolong the lifespan of existing gas-fired engine generators.

This solar PV system will provide power to a number of existing Tribe-owned buildings, including Colusa Casino Resort, a wellness center, administration buildings, a wastewater treatment facility, a water treatment facility, the cogeneration plant, two households, electric vehicle charging stations, and a daycare facility. Estimated annual energy production from this project is 856,710 kilowatt hours (kWh). Total annual energy consumption for the existing tribal facilities that use power from the microgrid generation system is 13,052,811 kWh. The proposed new solar PV system will offset approximately 6.6% of the existing use on the microgrid generation system.

This project is a parking-lot canopy solar PV system consisting of four canopy structures and 1,080 470-watt (W) modules. It will interconnect to the existing Tribe-owned medium-voltage microgrid generation system via a step-up transformer and short medium-voltage line.

The overall project scope includes the design, procurement, and installation of the following major components:

• Canopy structure and solar modules and DC stringing
• Inverters and AC collector system
• Medium-voltage step-up transformer and interconnection to existing medium-voltage generation system

The overall project goals are to reduce peak demand on existing Tribe-owned autonomous generation and provide inexpensive renewable energy to the Tribe for its members’ households, and commercial, agricultural and industrial facilities. This project will provide less expensive electric energy than existing supply from the utility and the existing Tribe-owned generators.

The Colusa Indian Community of 150 plus members resides in the heart of Northern California’s agricultural land on a 290-acre Reservation, along the bountiful Sacramento River, about four miles north of the Colusa city limits on Highway 45 in Colusa County, California. The solar PV system integrated with a carport canopy will be installed in the parking lot to the east of the Colusa Casino Resort and north of the existing parking canopy solar system.

The project is complete. For additional details, see the final report and project status report.

The project was competitively selected under the Office of Indian Energy’s Fiscal Year 2019 funding opportunity announcement “Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2019” (DE-FOA-0002032) and started in October 2019.