Tribal Utility Feasibility Study
The Schatz Energy Research Center (SERC) assisted the Yurok Tribe in investigating the feasibility of creating a permanent energy services program for the Tribe. The original purpose of the DOE grant that funded this project was to determine the feasibility of creating a full-blown Yurok Tribal electric utility to buy and sell electric power and own and maintain all electric power infrastructure on the Reservation. The original project consultant found this opportunity to be infeasible for the Tribe. When SERC took over as project consultant, we took a different approach. We explored opportunities for the Tribe to develop its own renewable energy resources for use on the Reservation and/or off-Reservation sales as a means of generating revenue for the Tribe. We also looked at ways the Tribe can provide energy services to its members and how to fund such efforts. We identified opportunities for the development of renewable energy resources and energy services on the Yurok Reservation that fall into five basic categories: • Demand-side management – This refers to efforts to reduce energy use through energy efficiency and conservation measures. • Off-grid, facility and household scale renewable energy systems – These systems can provide electricity to individual homes and Tribal facilities in areas of the Reservation that do not currently have access to the electric utility grid. • Village scale, micro-grid renewable energy systems - These are larger scale systems that can provide electricity to interconnected groups of homes and Tribal facilities in areas of the Reservation that do not have access to the conventional electric grid. This will require the development of miniature electric grids to serve these interconnected facilities. • Medium to large scale renewable energy development for sale to the grid – In areas where viable renewable energy resources exist and there is access to the conventional electric utility grid, these resources can be developed and sold to the wholesale electricity market. • Facility scale, net metered renewable energy systems – These are renewable energy systems that provide power to individual households or facilities that are connected to conventional electric utility grid.
- Research Organization:
- Yurok Tribe
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG36-03GO13117
- OSTI ID:
- 910548
- Report Number(s):
- NA; TRN: US200724%%232
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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