Tribal Microgrid Project in Rural MN Leverages Direct Pay

A project in rural Minnesota that is critical to improving access to reliable electricity for members of the White Earth Reservation is in jeopardy. And an organization that is helping the tribe with the project is now suddenly shouldering a $1.6 million risk that it never intended to. 

Sandra Kwak is working with the community organization 8th Fire Akiing Solar to dramatically reshape the tribe’s resiliency by expanding a solar array and introducing power storage. The $4 million project, known as the Pine Point Community Microgrid, will be located at a K-8 school which also serves as an elderly gathering center. 

The microgrid would more than cover 100% of the school’s electricity usage, which is critical for a low-income area that shoulders some of the highest energy burdens in the state. It would also offer a safe haven for community members during blackouts or natural disasters, and it would serve as a teaching tool for the school while integrating the native Ojibwe language into the school curriculum.

That project includes a 40% investment tax credit that would be recouped through a direct payment authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by the 117th Congress and signed into law in 2022. A recent freeze in funding for federal grants, affecting communities and organizations across the country, has injected a sense of financial uncertainty for projects like Pine Point.