New initiatives always take longer than anticipated. What has been the greatest lesson learned? I am very excited that once this project gets going and the energy savings and reliability are demonstrated, it can serve as a pilot project for our further energy sovereignty initiatives. We had a lot of naysayers and people who didn’t believe that renewable energy was worth it to pursue. This led to a Renewable Energy Committee, which was tasked with ensuring power continuity across critical tribal operations to the extent possible during and after a storm. We quickly realized that backup generators are not designed to run nonstop for weeks. Some of our rural Reservations were without power from the electrical grid for weeks. It tore through the state of Florida, and it affected all the Tribe’s Reservations. In August 2017, Hurricane Irma was a wake-up call for us. TEXT VERSION Was there a specific event or concern that made the Tribe decide to pursue this project? Harvey Rambarath, Assistant Director of Planning and Development with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, talks about Hurricane Irma’s impact on the Tribe’s power grid in 2017. Learn from Harvey Rambarath, Assistant Director of Planning and Development with the Seminole Tribe of Florida on his experience with the project. The total cost savings for the Tribe is approximately $3 million (over the life of the system). The system provides roughly 1,750 kilowatt-hours of battery energy storage capacity. The system generates 445 kilowatts of solar photovoltaic potential. One of four battery energy storage systems installed, a 500 kilowatt-hour system will serve as the primary backup power source at the Health Clinic during grid outages.
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