Warm Springs Tribes awarded $1 million state grant for Tribal housing solar and battery storage

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Warm Springs Power and Water Enterprises and the Warm Springs Housing Authority have been awarded a $1 million state grant to bring high-performance solar and battery energy storage systems to three locations on the Warm Springs Reservation.

The grant was awarded by the Oregon Department of Energy’s Community Renewable Energy Program, the Tribes said in a news release Friday, pointing to their goal of "advancing the Tribes’ priorities of energy sovereignty, equity, affordability, and resilience." 

Cathy Ehli, general manager of Warm Springs Power & Water Enterprises, said, “This project is an excellent example of how solar and other energy solutions can make a real impact on both individual community members in their homes and community spaces by lowering energy bills and providing consistent power during outages and other emergencies."

As proposed in the project plan, the solar and battery system installation sites are:  

• Park Place Court Permanent Supportive Housing, which includes 10 "tiny homes" and an essential community services center for previously unhoused Tribal members; 
• 24 single-family homes requiring low-income verification in the West Hills Affordable Housing neighborhood; and 
• Greeley Heights Community Center, which serves as an accessible gathering space for the Tribe’s low-income community.

These locations, owned and operated by Warm Springs Housing Authority, currently provide affordable housing and community spaces to low-income Tribal members.

They have all been evaluated by Energy Trust of Oregon, and many of the homes have already been upgraded with efficiency improvements, including weatherization, lighting upgrades and heat pump installations.

The project aims to maximize those improvements by adding solar and battery systems, which the Tribes said will lower energy costs, strengthen resilience to mitigate the impacts of wildfires and extreme weather, and unlock opportunities for WSHA to expand future energy projects. 

“We’re excited to partner with WSPWE on improving the lives of our community members, said Danielle Wood, executive director of the Warm Springs Housing Authority. "This project will lower bills and make sure there is reliable power year-round in their homes and important community spaces,"

More information about the CREP award can be found at the ODOE website.

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The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon is a federally-recognized, sovereign Indian tribe, representing the Wasco, Warm Springs and Paiute peoples. The Tribes occupy the Warm Springs Reservation, which stretches from the summits of the Cascade Mountains to the cliffs of the Deschutes River in Central Oregon. The Reservation is reserved for the Tribes' exclusive benefit by an 1855 Treaty with the United States, which reserved to the Tribes the right to fish, hunt, gather foods and pasture livestock in the ceded lands and at usual and accustomed stations.