The Wind Powering America (WPA) is a regionally-based collaborative initiative to increase the nation's domestic energy supply by promoting the use of Wind Energy Technology, such as low wind speed technology, to increase rural economic development, protect the environment, and enhance the nation's energy security. WPA provides technical support and educational and outreach materials about utility-scale development and small wind electric systems to utilities, rural cooperatives, federal property managers, rural landowners, Native Americans, and the general public. The activities at Sandia includes outreach programs to Native Americans and to the states of New Mexico and Arizona.

Since there are enormous wind resources on native lands, yet no significant wind developments to date, WPA has initiated a program aimed at educating tribes that have wind resources and that are interested in developing them for their own use and/or power export. Current activities are focused on outreach to Tribal representatives in 9 states and regions (AZ, Northwest, WI, NV, HI, SD, NM, AK, ID); continued support for regional Native American Wind Interest Groups; expanding the anemometer loan program; documenting pilot projects that are aimed at demonstrating commercially replicable development on tribal lands; sponsoring Native American participants to the annual NREL WEATS program; and collaborating with DOE’s Native American Renewable Energy assistance program.