The Department of Energy announced the closing of a $72.8 million loan guarantee Friday on tribal lands in California, tapping a funding pool expanded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.
The loan will finance a microgrid for the Viejas Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians that contains a 15-megawatt photovoltaic solar system matched with a 70-MW long-duration battery system. The solar-plus-storage system aims to bring more reliable renewable energy to the Viejas Reservation near Alpine, California, which is roughly 30 miles east of San Diego. The project is also being supported by Starbucks, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance and a grant from the California Energy Commission.
“When President Biden and Vice President Harris say that every community deserves the opportunity to benefit from our clean energy future, they mean it,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.
The funds constitute the first loan through DOE’s Tribal Energy Financing Program, according to the department’s Chief Investment Officer Chris Creed.
