Publications Details

Native american sustainable energy systems - Navajo solar electric case study

Begay-Campbell, Sandra; Coots, Jennifer; Mar, Benjamin

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) has an active relationship with the Navajo Nation. Sandia has grown this relationship with through joint formation of strategic multiyear plans oriented toward the development of sustainable Native American renewable energy projects and associated business development. For the last decade, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) has installed stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems on the Navajo Reservation to provide some of its most remote customers with electricity. Sandia and New Mexico State University - Southwest Technology Development Institute's technical assistance supports NTUA as a leader in rural solar electrification, assists NTUA's solar program coordinator to create a sustainable program and conveys NTUA's success in solar to others, including the Department of Energy (DOE). In partnership with DOE's Tribal Energy Program, summer interns' Jennifer Coots (MBA student) and Benjamin Mar (Electrical and Computer Engineering student) prepared case studies that summarize the rural utility's experience with solar electric power.