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Friday, March 28, 2008

Navajo Nation Partners With Boston Firm To Develop Wind Energy

By Felicia Fonseca/
Associated Press
      The Navajo Nation is setting itself up to be a provider of wind power at a time when neighboring states are pushing for increased renewable energy portfolios.
    The tribe announced Thursday it has partnered with Boston-based Citizens Energy Corp. to develop wind energy on the vast reservation.
    "When they flip the switch off for conventional power and flip the switch on for renewable, you want to be able to be there both places," said Steve Begay, general manager of the tribe's Dine Power Authority, or DPA. "... It's being in the market all the time with base load fossil fuel power and renewable."
    The DPA, Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. and Citizens Energy chairman and president Joseph Kennedy III signed an agreement earlier this month to develop more than 500 megawatts of energy on the Navajo Nation.
    Several sites on the reservation are being considered for the Dine Wind Project, including the Gray Mountain ridge southwest of Tuba City, Ariz., and Cameron, immediately west of Gray Mountain.
    The first phase of up to 200 megawatts is expected to be complete by 2012, said Roger Freeman, managing director of wind projects for Citizens Energy.
    In the past 18 months, the group has conducted wind assessments, environmental and transmission reviews, and met with several chapters over the potential for wind energy development, Freeman said.
    But before any wind turbines can go up, the partners would need to complete an analysis on wind potential and secure financing for the project.
    "We're looking at another year and a half to two years before we actually get under way with construction," said Deswood Tome, a spokesman for the Navajo Nation's Washington, D.C., office.
    The tribe plans to send wind power to cities off the reservation through the yet-to-be-built Navajo Transmission Project, a 470-mile power line to that would stretch from Shiprock to Laughlin, Nev., Begay said.
    Early estimates show the wind project could bring in between $60 million and $100 million in revenue for the Navajo Nation over the lifetime of the project, which Begay said could be 25 years.
    "By working together with the Navajo Nation's Dine Power Authority and Citizens to harness the power of the wind we can bring economic prosperity for the Navajo people and build our energy independence while providing jobs and other benefits for the Navajo Nation," Shirley said.
    Environmentalists applauded the tribe's efforts in developing renewable energy.
    "If it's solar or wind or some type of alternative energy that's not going to cause any health problems to the Navajo Nation, the Navajo people or living species on earth, we're all for it," said Elouise Brown of Dooda Desert Rock, a group opposed to a proposed coal-fired power plant on Navajo land.
    Under the agreement, the Navajo Nation will have the opportunity to gain a majority ownership in the project, and Citizens Energy has agreed to reinvest a portion of the profits from it on the Navajo Nation.
    Freeman said Citizens Energy is putting up all the necessary development capital so that the project is low risk for the DPA and the Navajo Nation.

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