Project Overview

Tribe/Awardee
Forest County Potawatomi Community

Location
Milwaukee, WI

Project Title
Installation of Solar Photovoltaic Systems

Type of Application
Deployment

DOE Grant Number
DE-EE0006473

Project Amounts
DOE: $1,406,348
Awardee: $1,406,352
Total: $2,812,700

Project Status
See project status

Project Period of Performance
Start: June 2014
End: June 2016

Summary

Forest County Potawatomi Community (FCPC), in collaboration with a selected contractor, will install and operate approximately 875 kilowatts (kW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at a minimum of eight tribal facilities in Milwaukee and Forest Counties. The individual installations will range in size from approximately 11 kW to at least 500 kW and will displace in excess of 15% of the total energy usage per building utilizing the electric energy.

Project Description

Background

FCPC is a federally recognized tribe with a membership of about 1,400. The tribe has a reservation in Forest County, Wisconsin, and tribal trust lands in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, with significant governmental and business operations in both areas. Until recently, FCPC was one of the poorest tribes in the Midwest. Due to its successful gaming operations, it has improved its financial situation and is using its resources to benefit both its members and the general public through environmental and other community efforts, many of which are long-delayed because of the extended period of abject poverty.

The tribe has developed the long-term goal of becoming energy independent using renewable resources. In order to meet this goal, the tribe has already taken several important steps. As an interim step, FCPC is purchasing nearly 55 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of renewable energy credits annually from certified renewable energy facilities in the United States. That is enough green energy to offset more than 100% of the present electricity usage at all its facilities in Forest County and Milwaukee. The tribe is currently ninth on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Top 20 Local Government list of green power purchasers and is a member of the EPA's Green Power Partnership.

The tribe recognizes that improving energy efficiency is critical to reaching its long-term energy independence goal. Because of this, the tribe has implemented numerous energy efficiency measures at its facilities, and it conducts quarterly energy audits to track its energy usage. Since 2007, the tribe has reduced its energy usage per gross square foot by 13.6% and reduced its corresponding carbon emissions by almost 20.6%. These efficiencies have eliminated more than 13,700 tons of emitted carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. That is the equivalent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions from almost 2,500 passenger vehicles, or the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of roughly 1,550 homes for one year.

In 2010, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the tribe completed a lighting upgrade in the parking facility at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The upgrade reduced the parking facility's annual electricity use by approximately 73% and avoids approximately 1,912 tons in CO2 emissions per year.

As part of its renovation of the historic Concordia College campus in central Milwaukee, the tribe, in partnership with DOE, invested over $2.2 million in energy efficiency improvements for Wunder Hall, a 34,000 square-foot former dormitory building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2011, as an initial step in creating its own renewable energy, FCPC installed a solar PV system on the tribe's administration building in Milwaukee. The project uses all American-made products, and the panels, which will produce approximately 35,000 kWh of clean electricity annually, were manufactured at Milwaukee-based Helios USA, LLC.

As a significant step toward meeting its energy independence goal, the tribe developed an approximately $20 million, 2,000 kW anaerobic digestion biogas facility in Milwaukee. The facility accepts liquid food waste materials from the numerous food and beverage industry operations in the Milwaukee area, keeping these otherwise waste materials out of landfills and other impactful disposal areas, and instead allowing these materials to produce clean energy.

Project Objectives

FCPC is implementing a long-term energy goal and vision of being energy independent and using renewable, carbon-free or carbon-neutral energy. The tribe's commitment to clean, carbon-free energy flows from its overall environmental ethic, which is reflected in the tribe's Environmental Mission Statement, which has been formally adopted by the tribe's Executive Council:

"The traditional values of the Forest County Potawatomi Community teach us to respect all living things, to take only what we need from Mother Earth, and to preserve the air, water, and soil for our children. Reflecting these values, we take leadership in creating a sustainable and healthy world. We resolve to reduce our own environmental impacts and to take steps to remedy the impacts of others. We encourage others to do the same. We also seek legislative and policy changes that protect the environment for all people, including generations to come."

The overall goals of the project are as follows:

  • Increase the tribe's energy independence by increasing its capacity to generate clean, renewable power in an economically feasible manner. This goal is consistent with the tribe's long-term energy goal and vision to become energy independent using clean, carbon-free energy.
  • Reduce the tribe's reliance on electricity generated by fossil fuels, especially coal, thereby lessening the negative environmental impacts associated with coal-fired generation. This goal is also consistent with the tribe's long-term energy goal to become energy independent using clean, carbon-free energy, and it is consistent with the tribe's Environmental Mission Statement, which commits the tribe to reducing its own environmental impact and taking steps to lessening the impacts of others.
  • Provide a model for other tribes to deploy community-scale renewable energy projects. This goal is consistent with the tribe's long-term energy vision and Environmental Mission Statement, which commits the tribe to take leadership in creating a sustainable and healthy world. The project is particularly valuable as a demonstration that community-scale solar facilities are feasible for tribes in northern climates. The project also provides a model for tribes to integrate grants (e.g., Housing and Urban Development [HUD] block grants, U.S. Department of Agriculture [USDA] Rural Energy for America Program grants, etc.) with private financing to make renewable energy projects more cost-effective.
  • Allow the tribe to diversify its portfolio of renewable resources by developing significant solar energy facilities in addition to its substantial biogas project. This goal is consistent with the tribe's long-term energy goal and vision to become energy independent using clean, carbon-free energy, and is important to allow the tribe to match the appropriate resource to each building, ensuring that the tribe is not too dependent on any single renewable resource.

The specific objectives of the project are to:

  • Install approximately 875 kW of solar generation capacity at tribally owned buildings in Milwaukee and Forest Counties
  • Increase the tribe's renewable generation capacity with equipment that has low operations and maintenance requirements and costs
  • Provide a good match between the renewable solar resource and the time of use of tribal facilities
  • Be economically feasible by allowing for a payback of capital costs based on energy savings achieved over time.

Project Scope

The tribe and selected investor(s) will form one or more limited liability companies (LLCs), with the tribe as a member of each LLC, to develop the project. The contractor and the tribe will work together to conduct a competitive request for proposals process to identify suppliers and contractors for the various components of the project, and the contractor will provide technical assistance and oversight to ensure proper implementation of the solar projects.

Each LLC will enter into power purchase agreements (PPA) with the tribe under which the tribe shall either receive all of the energy produced by the project at a rate that is 80% of the 2013 utility rate for the relevant buildings serviced by the project or prepay the PPA via a discounted lump sum payment within the project's first year. After the recapture period for federal tax credits, the tribe will be able to obtain 100% ownership of the LLC(s) and the solar facilities.  Each LLC will operate and maintain the solar facilities consistent with an operation and maintenance plan.

Project Location

The tribe has a reservation in Forest County, Wisconsin, and tribal trust lands in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, with significant governmental and business operations in both areas. The tribe will partner with a selected contractor to install approximately 875 kW of solar PV systems at a minimum of eight tribally owned buildings on trust and fee lands in Milwaukee County and Forest County, Wisconsin.

Project Status

This project is complete. For more, see the final report.

The project was competitively selected under the Tribal Energy Program's fiscal year 2013 funding opportunity announcement "Community-Scale Clean Energy Projects in Indian Country" (DE-FOA-0000852) and started in June 2014.

The March 2014May 2015, and December 2016 project status report provides more information.