The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will award a total of more than $6.5 million to 19 clean energy projects across the country.
These projects will allow Native American tribes to advance clean energy within their communities by assessing local energy resources, developing renewable energy projects and deploying clean energy technologies, the DOE says.
The selected projects include $3.6 million for feasibility studies. A total of $3.6 million will go to 13 projects – including several solar projects – that will assess the technical and economic viability of developing renewable energy resources on tribal lands to generate utility-scale power or study the feasibility of installing renewable energy systems on buildings to reduce energy use by 30%.
In addition, the DOE awarded $1.7 million for renewable energy development projects. Four projects will receive a total of $1.7 million for pre-construction development activities. Three of these projects are developing more than 250 MW of new renewable energy generation, and one, when implemented, would reduce the need for diesel fuel for heating by 80%.
(The remainder was awarded to two biomass projects. These tribal energy projects were selected as a result of a DOE funding opportunity announcement last year.)
