Yakama Nation Wins Up to $32M Federal Award for Solar Power Project
Irrigation canal conversion project to lower energy costs for residents, conserve water in the Yakima Basin
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Yakama Nation clean energy project has been selected to receive up to $32 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced today. The Yakama Tribal Solar Canal & Hydro Project will lower electricity costs and conserve more water by converting inefficient, open-water irrigation canals that are part of the Wapato Irrigation Project into a solar and micro-hydropower irrigation system.
“This innovative new solar and irrigation project will enable the Yakama Nation to implement clean energy technologies to reduce residential utility bills by as much as 15 percent," said Sen. Cantwell. "This pioneering project will also boost local water supplies by as much as 20 percent, critical for maintaining agricultural operations and expanding economic opportunities for the Tribe and region."
The Wapato Irrigation Project was created over a century ago to provide water to more than 135,500 acres of irrigated agricultural land on the Yakama Reservation. The Wapato Irrigation Project is the largest irrigation project in the Yakima River Basin and the Yakama Nation has been working to upgrade deteriorating infrastructure to conserve water and reliably deliver water to farmers that produce a diverse array of agricultural products including wheat, grapes, and tree-fruit, including apples.
An important aspect of the infrastructure upgrades is modernizing the 97 miles of canals, laterals, and drains to create an irrigation system that can efficiently deliver and conserve water. The Yakama Tribal Solar Canal & Hydro project helps achieve this and generates renewable energy by converting open-water irrigation canals into a pressurized underground pipeline and building solar panels above the newly covered pipes to generate clean energy that will help reduce utility costs for Yakama Power customers.
The project will employ at least 10 full-time workers, and the Tribe plans to train and hire local Tribal members to ensure project dollars are reinvested and continue to circulate within the community.
Funding for this grant comes from the DOE Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program. The ERA program was created under the Cantwell-supported Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and aims to improve the resilience, reliability, and affordability of energy systems in communities across the country with 10,000 or fewer people.
The BIL included multiple historic investments championed by Sen. Cantwell to make our nation's electricity grid more reliable, resilient, and able to integrate renewable energy sources and stand up to increasingly frequent and intense weather events.
Sen. Cantwell has championed efforts to ensure communities in the Yakima River Basin have access to water and led the effort to author and secure the 2019 passage of the Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project Phase III Act, which authorizes an integrated and collaborative approach to addressing water challenges in the Yakima Valley. This law is a model for water management in the 21st century, particularly as communities throughout the West are impacted by drought and climate change.
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