In September, the
Red Lake Band of Chippewa started working on the second phase of
a 12-step solar project, a 240-kilowatt array atop the reservation's
workforce center in Red Lake.
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The Red Lake Nation Government
Center stands on the shores of Lower Red Lake in the town
of Red Lake. (photo courtesy of Clean Energy Economy Minnesota)
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Two years ago, when Robert Blake put 10 people to work fastening
solar panels to the roof of the Red Lake Nation Government Center,
the solar entrepreneur hoped it would be the start of a lasting
development.
The panel installations completed the first phase of a planned
12-step solar project with big goals: Leading the Red
Lake Band of Chippewa toward an energy independent future while
protecting the environment.
Project organizers also think the initiative could pave the way
for some green-energy jobs. Seven
Clans Casino certainly generates significant income, but at
a cost, according to Blake, who is an enrolled member of the tribe.
"Gaming just brings a negative energy," he said. "Solar is bringing
a different kind of energy to Red Lake more than anything
gaming could ever do."
In September, the tribe started working on the second phase
a 240-kilowatt array atop the reservation's workforce center in
Red Lake. "With solar, Red Lake is kind of like this giant petri
dish," Blake said. "Let's see if we can make a distributed renewable
energy system right here, turn it into a utility and see if we can
power the community."
Solar energy has its limits, organizers acknowledge, especially
during Minnesota winters, when the days are short. But organizers
see it as the beginning of an independent energy grid that could
incorporate other green technologies. "Tribal Chairman (Darrell)
Seki is the kind of chairman who thinks seven generations ahead,"
Blake said. "That's what the community needs to do. It's what we
used to do."
Energy independence
About 5,900 people live on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, which
covers 1,200 square miles in far northern Minnesota, including the
majestic Lower Red Lake, a major walleye fishery, and part of Upper
Red Lake.
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Robert Blake, whose company
is installing panels for Red Lake Nation's solar project,
is the founder of Native Sun, a nonprofit organization that
promotes green energy. (photo courtesy of Clean Energy Economy
Minnesota)
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Tribal leaders announced plans for the solar initiative about five
years ago. Projects on deck after the government center include
the tribe's three casino branches one in Red Lake and two
off the reservation near Thief River Falls and Warroad; the Red
Lake Nation College, a two-year college that serves about 150
Native American students; and schools in Ponemah.
Several factors led to the project. One was concern about the long-term
environmental health of Red Lake, a source of income and cultural
pride for the tribe. Another was the desire for a power source that
would free the tribe from what Blake called the "colonial capitalism"
of electricity supplier Beltrami
Electric Cooperative, including frequent power outages related
to unpaid fees. (The co-op's director of member and energy services,
Sam Mason, told MinnPost that the utility does its best to help
people tap into energy assistance programs if they can't pay their
bills).
Securing financing for the initial project, however, proved to
be difficult.
Ralph Jacobson, an early solar proponent and the founder of Impact
Power Solutions, a panel installation company based in Roseville,
said several banks declined to get involved. As he pondered how
to help, he thought, "as a white guy, I didn't want to be involved
in some kind of financial scheme that fell through. Native Americans
have had the rug pulled out from under them enough times."
Jacobson recalled a conference he had attended at Macalester College
that introduced him to "crowdfunding," the strategy of raising money
by garnering small contributions from a large pool of people. Seki,
the tribal chairman, liked the idea, so Jacobson reached out to
family members and friends in his church community. He characterized
the venture as "an easy sell" and raised $115,000. He kicked in
$15,000 of his own money.
Federal tax credits for such investments will help Jacobson pay
off the lenders, probably in about five years, he said. Jacobson
also turned to crowdfunding for the project that is currently underway.
Creating momentum
The 67-kilowatt government center array in Red Lake is generating
about 25 percent of the building's electricity, organizers said,
while the workforce center panels are expected to provide about
half of that complex's electricity. Two batteries for storing solar
energy, ordered from China, are scheduled to be installed in the
buildings in April.
Jacobson, who has been involved in solar projects for 30 years,
remembers when most projects involved "wealthy people with ideals"
who wanted to put panels on their roofs. Solar power has become
much more popular in recent years, however, both among utilities
and individual investors.
That has created some optimism about the trajectory of the Red
Lake project. He noted the involvement of other tribes in green
energy projects, such as a solar utility run by the Navajo Nation
in Arizona and projected wind farms on Sioux land in South Dakota.
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Solar pioneer Ralph Jacobson
used crowdfunding to raise money for the first two phases
of Red Lake Nation's solar project. (photo courtesy of Clean
Energy Economy Minnesota)
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"What I have learned over the years is that it's important to create
some momentum by getting something done," he said, speaking of the
completion of the first phase of the project. "Getting something
built can really raise that public awareness."
Mason, of Beltrami Electric, said the utility has worked with about
50 solar projects in its service territory, such as panels on homes
and schools. He has consulted with workers on the Red Lake projects.
Losing the Red Lake Nation would be a significant loss for the cooperative,
but he wonders whether solar energy can really power the entire
reservation. More likely, he said, the utility will continue to
provide some level of energy, even as the tribe taps into other
green technologies.
'What I have to do'
"Equity," "power," "independence." Blake uses these words to reflect
the cultural moment in his discussion of the project. Besides his
installation company, he also runs Native
Sun Community Power Development, a non-profit that promotes
what it calls "a just energy transition" from fossil fuels to renewable
energy sources.
Blake grew up in Minneapolis but, as an enrolled member of the
Red Lake Nation, spent his senior year of high school in Red Lake,
developing a fondness for the tribe, its land and the big lake.
As the project grows, he envisions tribal members training in solar
technology at Red Lake Nation College and then staying on the reservation
to live and raise their families, rather than moving elsewhere to
find work. (More than one-third of the households on the reservation
have incomes that are below the poverty rate, according to the Federal
Reserve Bank in Minneapolis). He credits Seki for jumpstarting the
project, which had been bandied about for a few years.
It will be a long project if it is indeed ever finished
but Blake is undeterred.
"I just feel like this is what I have to do," he said. "This project
is so important not only to Red Lake but to tribal country and,
I want to say, really to all of us as a whole. It not only will
help native people and Red Lake, but it could be an example for
the rest of us to look to for what is possible."
Jacobson, too, thinks the lessons of the effort can be applied
elsewhere.
"We really looked at this as not just a chance to get some renewable
energy into the community, but to what is even larger that
people get their hands on (the technology) and familiarize themselves
with it," he said. "There is a lot of opportunity here, but you
have to understand (solar power) and how to be involved."
He added: "It's fortuitous that the second project is at the workforce
development center."
Gregg Aamot
Gregg Aamot is a longtime Minnesota journalist and college instructor.
After getting his start at a newspaper in rural Minnesota, he spent
a decade with The Associated Press in Minneapolis, reporting from
many regions of the state. Aamot is the author of "The New Minnesotans:
Stories of Immigrants and Refugees" and teaches English at Ridgewater
College.
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