The Biden administration announced Tuesday that the federal government will fund 17 projects across the country to expand access to renewable energy on Native American reservations and other rural areas.
The $366 million plan will fund solar, battery storage and hydropower projects in sparsely populated areas where electricity is expensive and unreliable. The money comes from the $1 trillion infrastructure law President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that about one-fifth of Navajo homes in northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah lack electricity. Nearly one-third of households with electricity on U.S. Indian reservations report losing power each month, according to the Biden administration.
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The announcement comes as Native American tribes in Nevada and Arizona fight to protect their lands and sacred sites amid the Biden administration’s renewable energy expansion. It also comes days after federal regulators gave Native American tribes more power to block hydroelectric projects on their lands.
A solar power plant is seen in Mona, Utah, on August 9, 2022. The Biden administration is expected to announce $366 million in funding for 17 projects across the country to expand access to renewable energy in rural areas. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
The Biden administration will secure funding for the 17 projects only after negotiations with project applicants, federal officials said. Department of Energy officials were preparing to meet with tribal leaders to discuss clean energy projects at a summit in Southern California.
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“President Biden strongly believes that all communities, especially rural and remote areas, should benefit from this historic transition to a clean energy future,” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. Stated.
The project spans 20 states and involves 30 tribes. That includes $30 million to bring plant-based energy to wildfire-prone communities in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and to build solar and hydroelectric power for Native American tribes in Washington state. includes his $32 million.
Another $27 million will go toward building a hydroelectric power plant to serve tribal villages in Alaska, and $57 million will go toward solar power for rural health centers in the Southeast, including Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. The company plans to provide electricity storage equipment.
