Office of Indian Energy Chris Deschene (third from the right) was among those in attendance at a groundbreaking ceremony the Seneca Nation of Indians held for its 1.5-MW wind turbine on April 27. Photo by Ken Parker, Food Is Our Medicine.

The people of the Seneca Nation of Indians (Seneca Nation or SNI), an Iroquois Tribe, live and work on the same lands the Seneca people have inhabited for more than 1,000 years, which today consist of three distinct and noncontiguous territories in western New York.

In 2003, SNI identified energy development as a strategic tool for exercising its sovereignty, creating economic development opportunities, providing new jobs and revenue streams, and effectively managing its energy resources. To build the political and business consensus needed to prioritize energy development and comprehensively address energy-related issues on SNI lands, the Seneca Nation sought support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a strategic energy plan. SNI was competitively selected for a First Steps grant to develop its vision of energy self-sufficiency, quantify its energy needs and resources, and identify its energy options.

As the Nation prepared to transition from the planning phases to the development phase, it secured additional DOE funding in 2007 to develop a formal energy organization focused on executing its strategic plan. In addition to federal support, by 2007 the Nation had garnered community buy-in for its strategic energy plan, broadly supported by tribal government and business leaders as a keystone of SNI’s economic diversification strategy and a pathway to strengthening its sovereignty and economy while perpetuating the Tribe’s cultural and environmental values. 

Challenge:

As SNI transitioned from planning to development, it began to focus its efforts on achieving long-term energy security. In particular, SNI wanted to stabilize electricity rates of tribal members in the Cattaraugus Territories. Tribal members in the Allegany Territorities have access to low-cost electricity through New York Power Authority hydropower, but tribal members in the Cattaraugus Territories do not have access to this low-cost power and pay two to three times as much for electricity. SNI was also looking to displace fossil and nuclear fuel sources with SNI-owned renewable power, a long-term strategic goal of the Seneca Nation and a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, SNI sought to create a tribal utility organization, another key goal of the Seneca Nation’s strategic energy plan.

“The Tribe saw opportunities to diversify its economy, reduce emissions, and deploy renewable energy,” said Anthony Giacobbe, general manager of Seneca Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of SNI and the foundation for the new tribal utility organization.

Solution:

To advance its ongoing efforts to identify renewable and nonrenewable energy options, in 2007 SNI sought technical assistance through DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Under NREL’s Anemometer Loan Program, the Seneca Nation installed meteorological towers in several locations from November 2007 through February 2009 to assess the available wind resource potential on SNI land. An installation near Lake Erie revealed a substantial resource favorable to the development of a community-scale wind energy project.

After examining potential environmental impacts at that location, the Seneca Nation decided to move the planned turbine site about a mile south of the lakefront, in part to avoid the disruption of wildlife, including turtle populations. SNI also used the 2007 DOE First Steps Grant to develop a tribal energy organization and a DOE Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant to refine its proposed wind project. To capitalize on that early wind resource monitoring and fund the installation of the wind turbine, the Tribe applied for funding under DOE’s Fiscal Year 2013 Community-Scale Clean Energy Projects in Indian Country Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

In response to the DOE FOA, SNI proposed to install a 1.8-megawatt community wind turbine with a maximum hub height of approximately 265 feet, maximum rotor diameter of approximately 330 feet, and overall maximum height of approximately 430 feet on the selected site. The project was estimated to produce approximately 4.5 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, resulting in a 35% annual energy savings for the Tribe. In 2014, the SNI Wind Turbine Project was competitively selected to receive $1.5 million in DOE funding to supplement the Tribe’s $4.5 million investment in the installation of the wind turbine.

“Since the Seneca Nation first applied for a DOE First Steps grant to develop a strategic energy action plan in 2003, they have compounded the returns on that initial DOE investment, demonstrating progressive forward movement in their pursuit of energy sufficiency through clean energy development.” “It is wonderful to see those initial seed funds evolve into the installation of a wind turbine that can power half the Seneca Nation.”

Lizana Pierce
Program Manager, Office of Indian Energy

Working with Sustainable Energy Developments (SED) of Rochester, New York, SNI advanced to the implementation phase of the project. The Nation held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 1.5-MW turbine on April 27, and the project is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2016.

“Today’s groundbreaking marks a final milestone on the path to displacing fossil and nuclear fuel sources with tribally owned renewable power, which has been a long-term strategic goal of the Seneca Nation,” said Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene. “The Office of Indian Energy is proud to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Seneca Nation and other tribal governments working to identify and implement viable, innovative energy and infrastructure solutions that are foundational to creating stability, preserving their way of life, and improving quality of life in their communities.”

Benefits:

  • Intertribal—This successful community-scale tribal wind energy project can serve as a model for other tribal nations, as Giacobbe and others share successes and lessons learned with tribes and intertribal organizations interested in pursuing wind energy development.
  • Societal—The installation has resulted in the hiring of three SNI members for construction management alongside SED, and 10–15 other tribal members for construction. Further, the Nation is considering a solar energy project on another site, which could result in another full-time position managing the Nation’s renewable energy assets.
  • Economic—Using aggregated net-metering through National Grid, Inc., the Nation will be compensated for electricity at the rate of $0.08 per kilowatt-hour, which could save the Nation an estimated $360,000 annually. As a result, some 1,000 SNI households will see monthly reductions in their electric bills.
  • Environmental—The new wind turbine is expected to cut 86 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually, as well as reduce other greenhouse gas emissions.

 “The Department of Energy has supported the Seneca Nation throughout this long process, which we really appreciate” Giacobbe said. “We’ve made great strides in the last couple of years to meet those early strategic energy goals as well as provide price parity across our Territories. This project is the first step towards building an even stronger Nation for future generations.”