Bringing jobs to Pine Ridge by way of solar energy

BUFFALO GAP – Lookout Solar Park’s construction permit was approved last week by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. Located East of Buffalo Gap on the brinks of the Pine Ridge Reservation, the Lookout Solar Project is to be built on leased land from the Rapp family, Oglala Sioux tribal members.
Costing $100 million and surmounting to around 500,000 solar panels, Lookout Solar Park is the first large-scale solar energy project to be built in South Dakota. Aimed to be completed in 2021, the solar facility will be able to produce up to 110 megawatts. Wircon, a German renewable energy developer and parent company of Lookout Solar, currently does not have any projects in the United States that are completed, or in mid to late stages of development.
The Rapp Family has been working towards building a solar site for over 4 years, and have been working with Wircon for nearly as long in hopes of their vision coming to fruition. Lynn Rapp is quick to see the economic impact of having such a sight saying that more jobs are good jobs, and jobs are what is needed. “This project will bring nearly 200 badly needed jobs to Pine Ridge and our goal has always been to improve the economy of the reservation,” Rapp said.
Renewable energy supporters like Henry Red Cloud hope that the Lookout Solar Project will jumpstart local tribal governments to lead other tribes and the State of South Dakota into an energy and economic sufficient future.
Red Cloud, founder of Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCEC), said “People think of casino tribes when they think of tribes, but having solar here will be our new casino revenue.” The project has been working closely with the Tribal Employment Rights office. After a meeting in early January with Wircon and the Rapp family, Red Cloud and RCEC hope to be training more than 500 tribal members for the installation of between 7,000-10,000 solar panels per day. Shani Harmon, Wircon’s state-side managing associate, said that there will only be 50-100 people needed at most for the majority of construction.
Several Native American tribes nationwide, especially in the American South West, have solar sites on their reservations. According to Red Cloud, Lookout Solar will only be the second to have been built by Native Americans.
Red Cloud said “the hope after construction of the project is that the Oglala Sioux Tribe comes on board by committing land for at least two more identical solar energy sites” which means “Lookout Solar and green power means jobs, jobs, and more jobs.” There are not only jobs needed for the building and maintaining of solar facilities according to Red Cloud, but to also feed construction crews and the possibility of nearby gas stations.
With the potential of expansion after the Lookout Solar Project, Red Cloud said “I have to applaud the Rapp family for taking the initiative this far. An energy independent nation is what Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center and I have been working towards since day one.”
As of 2018, South Dakota ranked last in the United States for solar power having only invested $3.07 million in installed capacity. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) based in Golden, CO, invests research into the potentials of renewable energy on Native American tribal lands nationwide. The NREL’s Tribal Land Query GIS states that the Pine Ridge Reservation has a potential of producing 303,651,295 MWh in solar energy alone.

(Contact Travis Dewes at travisldewes@gmail.com)

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