Solar on U.S. tribal lands

In spite of the vast potential for smaller DG through utility-scale solar generation on tribal lands, approximately 5% of the total national potential, remarkably little development has been done to date on tribal trust or fee lands. Interviews with developers, project finance providers and tribal leaders reveal a number of reasons for this seeming mismatch between the PV opportunities that exist and the relatively small amount of project development completed thus far on tribal land. This paper explains why more development of PV projects on tribal lands is good for everyone, quantifies the potential and rationale for solar project development on tribal lands, outlines the major impediments limiting this development to date and analyzes what practical steps can be taken to move past the most common roadblocks.