Photo: California Energy Commission
Three tribes in remote areas of California's eastern Humboldt County are embarking on an innovative $177 million microgrid project, the Tribal Energy Resilience and Sovereignty Program, to turn an unreliable 142-mile distribution circuit into a reliable and resilient renewable energy system. TERAS will deploy three “nested” microgrids that can operate independently or together during outages, providing power to critical community institutions — even during broader outages on the circuit. Work is expected to begin in 2025, with the microgrid systems operational within five years. The Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe’s existing microgrid system, which has supported a tribal casino, hotel, and gas station since 2017, will be expanded, and TERAS will include a pre-apprenticeship program for low-voltage electricians developed between the four tribes.
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