Puget Sound Energy partners with Nooksack Indian Tribe to bring solar to their community

The award is part of $900,000 in PSE Green Power Solar Grants awarded to 13 projects this year

Bellevue, Washington (9/26/2022) Puget Sound Energy, with the support of its Green Power and Solar Choice customers, has awarded a Green Power Solar Grant to the Nooksack Indian Tribe, providing resources to install a new solar project on the Nooksack PPE warehouse.

 

The 47.12 kilowatt project will generate 49,554 kilowatt hours annually, which will help reduce more than 47,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. The solar array sits atop the Nooksack PPE warehouse, which was constructed to house a variety of supplies the Tribe acquired to combat COVID-19. The warehouse will also provide options in case there is ever a need for an emergency field clinic, quarantine quarters or sleeping quarters.

“As stewards of the land, we are proud to bring green projects to the area,” said RoseMary LaClair, chairwoman. “The Nooksack Indian Tribe has relied upon energy from Mother Earth since time immemorial and with this project we bridge our history, traditions and culture with the developments of tomorrow.”

Recipients of Green Power Solar Grants include local non-profits, housing authorities and tribal entities serving low-income and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) community members. In addition to saving recipients money on their electric bill that they can reinvest in community services, the projects will serve to further clean energy in the region.

“PSE is honored to partner with the Nooksack Indian Tribe as we support their efforts to build toward a clean energy future for their community,” said PSE Director of Product Development Will Einstein. “We’re excited that these solar panels will offset some of the Tribe’s operational energy costs and allow them to increase funding for their critical programs and services for Tribal Members.”

In addition to the nearly $1 million in grants awarded this past year, PSE has provided more than $3 million in grant funding for 48 local projects over the last 5 years, resulting in over 1,600 kW of newly installed solar capacity.

 

 

About Nooksack Indian Tribe:

The Nooksack Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe, part of the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, and today is based on their ancestral homeland of Whatcom County. They are Coast Salish people who lived, fished, hunted, and gathered for untold generations in their historic traditional lands from the base of Mt. Baker to the saltwater at Bellingham Bay. They extended into Skagit County to the south and British Columbia to the north. Their territory included a primary Nooksack area, not open to free use by members of other groups, and joint-use areas, which were shared. Today there are approximately 2,000 enrolled tribal members. The Nooksack reservation is in the town of Deming, WA with tribal land extending from Lynden to the South Fork Valley.

Media Contact:

Andrew Padula, 1-888-831-7250, psenewsroom@pse.com