Indigenous Organizations And Tribal Nations Are Innovating Energy Solutions

Several Indigenous-led organizations and tribal nations are building their own clean energy projects rather than waiting on federal policy. Navajo Power works with tribal communities to develop renewable energy and storage projects, including a battery-free solar approach with partner Vroom Power meant to cut installation cost and complexity. The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, which has provided electricity and other utilities on the Navajo Nation since 1959, offers off-grid residential solar service and is piloting a non-flammable zinc battery with Urban Electric Power that could change how homes elsewhere get power too.

Other projects show similar range. The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians in California has built one of the country's most advanced tribal electrification systems, with nearly 100 EV chargers, solar generation, battery storage, and a community microgrid that keeps power running during outages. Red Cloud Renewable, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, is the nation's only Indigenous-led renewable energy training campus, having trained more than 1,100 Native students to install solar, heat pumps (electric systems that heat and cool by moving heat rather than burning fuel), and weatherization upgrades that seal and insulate homes against harsh weather.

These efforts matter beyond tribal lands: Indigenous land makes up about 2 percent of US territory but holds roughly 6 percent of the country's renewable energy potential, making it an area investors are increasingly looking to for new projects.