Native American tribe breaks ground on solar

A giant stretch of solar panels are being built on tribal lands in Nevada, USA. The project on the Moapa Indian Reservation is said to be the first utility-scale solar […]

A giant stretch of solar panels are being built on tribal lands in Nevada, USA.

The project on the Moapa Indian Reservation is said to be the first utility-scale solar project on tribal lands.

Energy company First Solar and community leaders broke ground (pictured) on the 250 megawatt (MW) project project last week.

Due to be ready by the end of 2015, the panels will send power to Los Angeles for 25 years, providing enough energy for more than 93,000 homes, according to the US Department of Energy.

Aletha Tom, Moapa Chairwoman said: “This is an important step in becoming a leader in Indian Country and will help to create a model for other tribes to follow. If our small tribe can accomplish this, then others can also.

“There are endless opportunities in renewable energy and tribes across the nation have the available land on which to build them,” reported the Energy Department’s website.

Native American communities already have smaller scale solar projects in place, such as the San Carlos Apache tribe which uses a 10 kilowatt (kW) solar panel system to power its radio tower.

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