On an unseasonably hot day in mid-October, three apprentices learning to install solar panels clambered on the roof of a community building in the small township of Wakpala, on the Standing Rock Reservation. Three weeks into their apprenticeship, they had practiced ease on the roof as they attached solar panels to anchor points. Before the week was over they moved north on Highway 1806 to install a solar array for the small riverside community of Kenel.

The technicians are part of an apprenticeship program run by Lightspring Solar, a solar panel installation company, and the community development corporation for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, SAGE Development Authority, leading renewable energy projects on the reservation.

Great Plains tribes are eager to capitalize on the burgeoning clean energy economy and are creating training programs to empower tribal members. Rather than competing with the region’s dominant wind industry, some tribal communities are focused on solar power programs. By prioritizing local workforce development, they’re reimagining the job site and a utility system rooted in community ownership.

Solar panels installed by Lightspring Solar at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck Powers United Tribes’ Net-Zero Greenhouse. (Photo credit/ Grace Fiori)

This was the first time the young men had done work like this, and they applied after seeing social media posts from SAGE Development Authority. Besides crawling in some dusty attics and stray wasps, they all agreed hands-on training outweighed a classroom lecture.

“It’s a good crew and I’m learning something new,” Joseph White Mountain III said. He previously worked in oil and gas, and said this job site was much different. That’s largely due to the guidance of Wes Davis, Lightspring’s general manager, who leads the installation crew.

He envisions the job site as “an environment where everybody is part of the process,” he said. “This is something more than just a job. It’s giving back to your community.”

Through tax credits, grants and loan programs, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provides $369 billion for renewable energy projects and climate change mitigation. The IRA makes funding accessible for various organizations — from local and tribal governments to educational institutions and private businesses. Northern Great Plains states have been notably absent in applying for funding.

In this region, “Native Americans and Native American tribes are going to lead the effort in the next five years,” when it comes to solar development, said Cody Two Bears, executive director of Indigenized Energy, a nonprofit focused on tribal energy sovereignty. The group says program development and workforce training are essential.

The massive federal investments prioritize apprenticeship programs because of the need for skilled workers in the renewable energy sector. Since 2020, solar jobs grew more than 5% nationally, but 40% of (non-unionized) employers reported it was “very difficult” to find qualified workers.

Northern Great Plains tribes are taking a grassroots approach to solving this need and utilizing these funds. “How can we create this industry on our reservations to give our communities resiliency,” said Davis, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

Betting on solar in a wind economy

Energy is a big industry in North Dakota. Fourteen percent of the state’s workforce is employed by the energy sector. The strongest renewable energy sector has been wind, providing about 1,700 jobs and a majority of the $10 billion in capital investments for the state, according to American Clean Power.

Tribes looking to expand renewable energy in their regions want to see more Indigenous people employed in the energy sector, but face significant barriers to wind energy development. Wind projects require a lot of land, upfront costs, and complicated agreements for regional grid connectivity, said Lizana Pierce, deployment supervisor with the Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy. Tribes are instead focusing on solar.

They hope training programs like Lightspring Solar will help capitalize on the clean energy boom. SAGE Development Corporation CEO Joe McNeil Jr. envisions Standing Rock employing tribal members to operate a grid powered by solar and wind.

But some are skeptical. “We need to be honest with ourselves,” said Chéri Smith, founder of the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy. In the Dakotas, “it’s not solar friendly, the state incentives aren’t there, the state support isn’t there,” she said. In other words, there’s insufficient solar demand to support new jobs.

While she has seen multiple solar trainees go on to start their businesses or work for solar companies, the industry’s potential workforce benefits in Great Plains tribal communities “should not be overstated,” she warned.

“We don’t want solar installers to just become solar installers,” said Smith, a descendant of the Mi’kmaq Nation. There’s not enough demand yet, she said, to support solar specialists. These training programs should also include basic electrical skills, so “they’re not stuck with only one skill set.” Smith views this as a holistic solution to the persistently high unemployment of Standing Rock Reservation’s young population.

Solar also faces tough competition. Wind is king in the clean energy economy. Nationally, wind supplies more energy than solar because commercial wind technology was developed decades before solar, and there have been more federal incentives. That trend is extreme in North Dakota, where 36% of all energy is supplied by wind, compared to just 0.01% by solar. And the state gets plenty of sunshine – it’s one of the sunniest states along the Canadian border.

Wind turbines and the technical experience required to maintain them require a lot more certifications, training and upfront cost. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in northern North Dakota tried it out – but without a local wind technician they could not afford to maintain the turbines.

These issues have proven contentious in the state, where lawmakers have pushed the wind industry to employ locals. A failed 2021 bill would have required companies to prioritize hiring local workers for their state-funded projects. In September, a local labor union criticized the high number of out-of-state workers in the state’s wind industry.

So rather than try to muscle in on the wind sector, they’ve decided to start with solar. Solar’s costs have dropped almost 90% in the last decade, reducing barriers to entry. Storage advancements have improved solar reliability.

“Solar is here to stay and is only going to grow,” said Pierce.

Community ownership model

The apprenticeship program is just the beginning of SAGE Development Corporation’s broader vision, McNeil said. Tribal energy advocates know training community members is crucial to tribal energy sovereignty.

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to have someone from here who has been trained professionally and certified through our process…and know they have our best interest at heart because our community supports one other,” McNeil said.

The six technicians who completed this summer’s installation apprenticeship have a promising future in the Dakotas. White Mountain is an independent general contractor based out of Standing Rock. He plans to incorporate solar installation into his services. “We’ve got plenty of work,” said Kambeitz. Even during winter when installation work virtually stops, Lightspring tries to keep staff employed through additional training and certification.

Indigenized Energy is working with the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin to develop similar workforce development programs and include business skills for their solar operation. “The biggest thing” is the tribe’s capacity to manage their utilities operation, according to Two Bears. These efforts could speed up development region-wide. By adapting the Menominee Tribe’s model, other tribes won’t have to “recreate the wheel,” he said.

“The biggest thing is we’re an Indigenous crew and we’re installing for an Indigenous community,” Davis said. He acknowledged that some potential apprentices hesitate to commit to solar training when there is “no historical data in North Dakota supporting it.”

But the sun’s potential is not new to the tribes. “This is something we as Indigenous people have known for time immemorial,” Davis said. “We’re able to use these alternative energy resources to give us our power back.”

This story is a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation.