A joint effort between local tribes, Cal Poly Humboldt's Schatz Energy Research Center, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and the Redwood Coast Energy Authority just received $88 million in Department of Energy funding to bring a solar microgrid system to Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk tribal members in an area more prone to electrical outages than almost anywhere else in the state.
The so-called Hoopa 1101, a 142-mile distribution circuit that connects the Hoopa Valley to upriver portion of the Yurok Reservation and goes farther upriver to the communities of Orleans and Somes Bar and portions of the Karuk Reservation, is one of the least reliable in the state. Peter Alstone, a Cal Poly Humboldt faculty scientist at the Schatz Energy Research Center who also teaches in the university's School of Engineering, says the 2,200 or so electric customers on the circuit experience an average of more than 100 hours of power outage per year, "which is way off the charts," noting the metric is usually measured in minutes per year.
These outages, which come proactively in the form of shutoffs due to conditions that bring severe fire risk and unexpectedly during extreme winter storms and other events, have myriad impacts, says Alstone, who served as the core facilitator between the Yurok, Hoopa, Karuk tribes, the Blue Lake Rancheria, Schatz and RCEA on the project.
On the most basic level, he says the outages disrupt lives, causing kids to miss days at school and parents to lose shifts at work, while bringing economic losses. They can be beyond inconvenient for households with members dependent on electrical medical equipment, and can make it impossible for others to run air filters when the air is choked with wildfire smoke.
And when the power is out for hours at a time, that can lead to freezers thawing and food spoiling — a disaster when you consider nearly 90 percent of Native households in the Klamath region experience food insecurity, Alstone says, noting that "part of the way people deal with food insecurity is freezers."
"That's a major deal," he says, adding that many Native households also store culturally significant foods that can only be harvested or gathered at certain times of the year for future use, deepening the layered losses outages can bring.
The current situation also brings barriers and disincentives for households looking to reduce their carbon footprints or make efficiency upgrades, says RCEA Interim Executive Director Eileen Verbeck. After all, a family that can't take for granted their lights will turn on when they flick the switch isn't likely to hitch their transportation needs to an electric vehicle, or even swap their gas stove for a more carbon-friendly electric one.
"It's hard to encourage electrification for residents who have the seventh worst reliability in the state for electricity," Verbeck says.
Alstone agrees, noting that some portions of the existing grid in these areas also don't have the capacity to accommodate residential solar panels and on-site battery storage, referring to the situation as placing "limitations on people's ability to participate in the clean energy revolution."
But this new microgrid project is designed to put an end to all that while, hopefully, creating a model that can be replicated throughout the state, nation and world.
As approved, the project will invest in and upgrade the existing microgrid system at the Blue Lake Rancheria, which shone as a beacon of sustainability during the public safety power shutoffs in 2019, when the rancheria opened charging stations and set aside rooms for people dependent on electronic medical devices, while selling gas and ice to thousands from its service station. The idea, Alstone says, is that the rancheria's existing grid will be used to test new technologies and concepts, while building a local workforce.
The project will then build three new nesting microgrids — one each owned and managed by the Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk tribes — each featuring solar arrays, power storage and complex controls that will allow it to interact with PG&E's existing grid to operate jointly or independently, as circumstances demand. And while PG&E will maintain the larger grid, the tribes will individually own the microgrids and control how their surplus power is sold.
"Tribes believe in the principles of self-determination as a cornerstone of tribal sovereignty," Jason Ramos, acting chair of the Blue Lake Rancheria, said in a statement. "This project makes us even more resilient. As we demonstrated with our earlier microgrids, this nested microgrid project will advance critical technology, and that is good for all Californians. Robust microgrid technology will assist the state to reach its ambitious carbon emissions goals."
Verbeck says the project is a scaled back version of a similar one pitched last year with the California Energy Commission that aimed to build about a dozen microgrids in tribal communities throughout the state. Alstone says this project was in many ways a cornerstone of the larger pitch, pairing three communities with similar needs and challenges and a geographic connection — the Hoopa, Yurok and Karuk tribes — with a foundational partner like the Blue Lake Rancheria, that has a microgrid that is already being put to "great use" but has room for expansion.
"It was natural to have these four together because of the natural proximity and the need to have Blue Lake Rancheria as a testing ground and a workforce development ground," Alstone says. "The systems are only as good as the technicians around to service them."
The five-year project is projected to support hundreds of jobs — about 450 during construction and about 30 in its operational phase, Alstone says.
Verbeck says she's excited about the workforce development aspect, noting the DOE application specifies that a portion of the $88 million received will be used to develop a training center, saying it will help build local capacity for future renewable energy projects in the region.
Karuk Tribal Chair Russell "Buster" Attebery said in a press release that the tribe is "proud" to be collaborating on the project, noting it will represent a turning point for the community of Panamnik (Orleans).
"Microgrid energy will not only empower our tribal sovereignty, but provide the safeguards needed to survive along the river," he said. "Our people will no longer fear losing their food or vital medical resources, like vaccines, as we have in the past."
Yurok Tribal Chair Joseph L. James said in the release that the project will "dramatically" improve the tribe's energy resilience and represents a step toward its goal of "energy sovereignty," noting it will "power our homes, schools, government buildings, businesses and community centers."
In his dual role as scientist and teacher, Alstone says he's also excited about the educational prospects, saying it will cement "this region as a leader nationally on microgrids." Noting Cal Poly Humboldt's addition of an energy systems degree program and the "groundbreaking" nature of the Blue Lake Rancheria project and then the microgrid project installed at the county airport in McKinleyville, Alstone says his students are "going to learn right along the people who are building these kinds of world class, cutting-edge systems."
Verbeck says one of the most exciting aspects of the project is that it's replicable, with the potential to offer a renewable, cost-effective solution to areas that currently have limited electrical capacity — like Southern Humboldt — or where expensive line undergrounding projects are needed to alleviate wildfire risks.
"This is designed to be replicable across other rural communities," she says. "We're hoping this becomes an example for other communities that are having similar grid constraints and reliability issues."
Thadeus Greenson (he/him) is the Journal's news editor. Reach him at (707) 442-1400, extension 321, or thad@northcoastjournal.com.