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The Shonto Rural Electrification Program: Power for western Navajo communities and beyond
Over the past 3 years, the Trust has partnered with Shonto, the Navajo Nation’s first local-governance-certified Chapter, to establish a strong, community-based, economic diversification strategy. One component of this strategy is the establishing a locally owned, company that installs and sells renewable-energy systems. To make the company a reality, we worked with the Chapter to write a detailed business plan, educated the leadership about small renewable energy opportunities and options, and secured review of the plan by Sandia Laboratories and the Arizona Business Bank.
The Chapter has applied to the Arizona Sustainable Growth Fund to help finance some of the system costs for 20 families. It has formed a finance committee, which includes the vice president of the Arizona Business Bank, to develop a strategy to assist families that need some of costs subsidized. This process ensures a strong test run of the business concept.
To organize the business, the Chapter is partnering with the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) and Dine Power Authority (DPA). As a result of these discussions, commitments were made and valuable business advice on the retail venture was received. The possibility of utility-scale renewable energy projects to offer power to western Navajo communities and, ultimately, to distant markets was also discussed. The Shonto Chapter has now authorized Citizens Wind Energy to begin assessing the viability of a utility-scale, wind energy development.
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