Window of opportunity: Navajo solar
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Key Findings
Assertive and informed negotiation is crucial to ensuring that solar-development projects are built in ways that benefit, protect, and profit local communities.
While a “seize-the-day” mind-set will serve Navajo chapter-house community leaders as utility-scale solar generation takes root across the Southwest U.S., it should be tailored to meet the long-term interests of local populations that continue to be underserved and overlooked.
Executive Summary
Rich in culture, land, and solar resources, Navajo Nation tribal-chapter communities are poised today to participate in a renewable-energy revolution that can help lift neighborhood and regional economies that have historically been left behind.
Located in the center of the American Sun Belt and situated near major electricitytransmission lines, these communities are increasingly being sought out by outside interests. These developers are often seeking deals crafted to meeting growing demand from utility companies that are switching from fossil-fuel powered electricity to renewables. This transition creates an urgent opportunity in which powerline capacity is open now for new forms of generation.
The Navajo Nation, in fact, is at the center of a region that stands to become a major source of solar-powered generation as part of a trend in which solar is capturing a growing piece of U.S. power-generation markets. Solar-driven electricity power has grown four-fold in just three years, and the Southwest stands apart for its contribution to this trend. The uptake of solar is hardly a regional phenomenon, however. Eight states now meet a significant portion of their electricity demand with solar.
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Press release: IEEFA Arizona: Fast-Track Opportunities Now in Navajo Community-Driven Solar Electricity Generation
