Thursday, March 16, 2006
By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer

An Albuquerque renewable energy company has received a $1.9 million federal grant to bring electricity to parts of the Navajo reservation in northern Arizona.

Sacred Power Inc., an American Indian-owned company that designs and assembles solar power systems, will make 100 hybrid solar and propane-powered generators for the Cameron Chapter of the Navajo Nation, located about 50 miles northeast of Flagstaff.

Sacred Power received the grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development program, which is intended to improve economic opportunities and quality of life for residents of rural areas.

Each unit will consist of a 10-foot by 8-foot solar photovoltaic panel that captures the sun's heat to generate up to 800 watts of electricity. For backup power each unit will have a small wind turbine or propane-powered generator, said Sacred Power co-principal Dave Melton, who is from Laguna Pueblo.

At present, residents of the Cameron Chapter area have no electricity for lights or appliances, including refrigerators. People have to drive 8 to 10 miles on dirt roads to buy food, Melton said.

Sacred Power will include a superinsulated, energy-efficient refrigerator, lighting and maintanance instructions with each generating unit.

Melton received word of the grant award in late February. He hopes to ship the generators in May.

This is the second federal grant Sacred Power has received to provide electricity to parts of the Navajo reservation. Last year, Sacred Power supplied 50 hybrid wind-and-solar generators to the Torreon and Ojo Encino chapters on the Navajo reservation between Cuba and Crownpoint.

Sacred Power has applied for additional USDA grant funding to supply similar solar and propane generators to homes in the Counselors, Pueblo Pintado and Ramah chapters of the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico.