Ground broken on solar farm

Posted by Cindy Yurth | Apr 28, 2016 | Business |

Navajo Times | Krista Allen
Left to right, Speaker LoRenzo Bates, Council Delegate Alton Joe Shepherd (Jeddito/Cornfields/Ganado/Kin Dah Lichii/Steamboat), Vice President Jonathan Nez and President Russell Begaye turn over the first shovelfuls of earth for a 300-acre solar farm north of Kayenta.

KAYENTA, Ariz.

Just in time for Sovereignty Day, Navajo Tribal Utility Authority broke ground on a project that will help the Navajo Nation transition from consumer to producer of electrical power.

A 300-acre solar farm is expected to be completed by next spring. It will produce 27. 5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 7,700 homes,  according to NTUA General Manager Walter Haase, and provide an estimated 100 construction jobs and a few permanent positions.

The Salt River Project has already agreed to purchase all the power the plant produces for the first two years of its life, helping SRP to fulfill a requirement to obtain 20 percent of its energy from sustainable sources within the next five years.

Other partners include the Western Area Power Administration, which owns the adjacent substation, and the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp., which set up the financing for the $64 million project.

At the groundbreaking ceremony Saturday at the construction site five miles north of Kayenta, NTUA and tribal government officials quickly turned some earth with shovels painted in the four sacred colors before retreating to the chapter house to escape the 40-mile-per-hour winds.

“Maybe we should be building a wind plant,” several people were heard to quip.