Community Breaks Ground on Phase 2 of History-Making Solar Energy Project

Emma Hughes

Gila River Indian News

The Gila River Indian Community took an historic step forward in the effort to conserve water on Dec. 8, breaking ground on Phase Two of the Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project Renewal Energy Pilot Project at the Casa Blanca Canal

This phase of the project – the first of its kind anywhere in the Western Hemisphere – will be built in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and paid for by $5.65 million in federal funding provided by the Biden Administration’s Invest in America Agenda. Phase 2 of the project will cover about 3,000 feet of irrigation canals on both sides of Interstate 10 with more than 2,500 solar panels.

“Today’s groundbreaking is significant and it’s historic,” said Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, who pointed to the solar-over-canal project as a significant element in the Community’s evolving “blue-green” economy. “This project will generate renewable energy for our irrigation system and it will conserve water at the same time.”

Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation Camille Touton, Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Assistant Secretary of Civil Works Michael Connor joined Gov. Lewis and members of the Community Council for the groundbreaking ceremony.

“We look forward to working with the Gila River Indian Community on this novel idea to conserve water and generate renewable energy with funding from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act,” said Reclamation Commissioner Touton. “This project will help inform similar projects … so that we can all understand the scale and corresponding benefits they provide.”

The first phase of the Renewable Energy Pilot Project was unveiled in November, but will begin construction after the second phase. Phase 1 will install about 1,000 feet of solar panels over the Community’s Level Top canal. That phase of the project will leverage $6.7 million in federal funding and is expected to produce about 1 megawatt of renewable energy for the community and its farmers. Phase 1, built in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is expected to be finished in 2025.

The Community “will be the first to implement this technology, resulting in significant reduction in evaporative water loss, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated by electrical power production,” said Assistant Secretary of the Corps Connor, an enrolled member of the Taos Pueblo tribe.

The solar panels for Phase 2 are expected to be installed by the end of January 2024. Its solar panels are predicted to generate about 1.31 megawatts of clean energy, providing about 2.26 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Community annually.

“It’s not going to take long to see the results,” said Gov. Lewis.