Bad River Solar + Storage: The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians was awarded $1 Million of US DOE grant funds for a $2 Million solar plus storage project on three essential tribal buildings. Installations on the Waste Water Treatment Plant and the Health Clinic will be equipped with battery energy storage systems and “smart” controls capable of operating independently of the grid. A third building will have a 20kW RTI (ready-to-install) PV system that will be used for training. It will have a small battery backup system capable of islanding.
The systems are expected to offset 100% of annual electric usage at two of the buildings and are estimated to reduce electric bills by $841,000 over 25 years. An RFP for contractors will be sent out this winter with project construction expected summer of 2020. The Tribal contact is Dan Wiggins. The grant proposal was written by a team that included the Tribe, CBR, Madison Solar Consulting with technical support from muGrid. This will be the largest battery storage project on Dairyland Power’s system.
Forest County Potawatomi Solar on Facilities: US DOE awarded more than $1 Million to the Forest County Potawatomi Community to install and operate 1,068 kW of solar PV at eight tribal facilities in Milwaukee and on the Tribe’s reservation lands. The eight installations will range in size from 8 kW to 280 kW and will displace between 4 and 99.9 percent of total current energy usage from those buildings. Annual savings in electric costs are projected at $106,000. DOE