Master’s Project

Submitted by

Christopher E. Greacen

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

Master of Science

in

Energy and Resources

University of California, Berkeley

May 1997

Abstract

The Yurok Tribal Council and Tribal Staff is seeking to provide basic electricity services to approximately 80 households on a remote area of the reservation. One of the key questions for the Yurok has been which technology to use: stand-alone energy systems, or a utility line extension. This paper is an effort to describe the issues and motivations of different groups that have a role in the project. It is also is an engineering / economic study of the technology options.

The electrification project is shaped by concerns over tribal control of reservation land, differing visions of socio-economic development, and a previous mixed experience with an early DOE demonstration project consisting of 15 to 20 small household solar electric systems. These concerns are manifested in differing opinions held by tribal council, tribal staff, and community members about which technologies to choose and how to proceed with the project.

This paper responds to a lack of quantitative information on which to make choices. It presents life cycle cost calculations and engineering overviews of eight technology options for electrification. The solar electric systems the tribe is currently installing have an initial cost of $18,000, but have an estimated life-cycle cost of $46,000 per household over a 30 year lifespan. The life-cycle cost of a 50 kW village hydroelectricity system is conservatively estimated to be $14,000 per household, and will provide three to six times as much daily power per household as the largest household solar electric system considered. A hydrologic assessment of watersheds for the village hydro finds that at an elevation of 800 feet Pecwan Creek has average daily flows exceeding 4.5 cfs even in the driest day in 50 years. The 50 kW AC hydro option requires 2.98 cfs for 47 kW, and 1.33 for 26 kW. To preserve adequate aquatic habitat by avoiding diversions that would lead to lower than historic drought flows, the AC hydro at Pecwan would need to operate at reduced levels (supplemented by a propane powered generator) for 11 days in an average year.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Literature Review

3. The Yurok Electrification Project

4. Economic Assessment of Electrification Options

5. Village Hydro Considerations

6. Technical Recommendations

7. Conclusions

8. Bibliography

9. Appendix: Community Laundry Facility

10. Appendix: Yurok Electrification Cost Comparison Spreadsheet

List of Figures

Abbreviations

Acknowledgments

During the course of this project, I received the help and encouragement from a number of people and institutions. I would like to thank the Energy and Resources Group (ERG) for academic and financial support. The Native American Renewable Energy Education Project (NAREEP), at ERG, has provided a wonderful working experience. I have particularly enjoyed working Jim Williams, John Elliott, Tom Starrs, and Chris Carrick on several trips to the Yurok Reservation in the course of completing this project. Their insights and encouragement are the root of much of the best parts of this project. My thanks to Professor Laura Nader and Professor Bob Sawyer. Laura Nader’s anthropologic instincts for problematizing electrification (who wants it? why? how have they come to want it?) have been important in my emerging understanding of the social aspects of electricity. I’ve been helped by Bob Sawyer’s thoughtful comments and support as Principle Investigator of NAREEP. Thanks to the Home Power Magazinecrew for renewable energy acculturation and training. Perhaps most importantly, I would like to thank the Yurok Tribal Staff, Tribal Council, and members of the Yurok Tribe who have spent numerous hours with me, who have opened their lives to my questions about electrification in their community. Finally, I would like to thank the ERG students and professors who have supported and challenged me through my two years here. Special thanks to Emily Yeh.

1. Introduction

How should a Tribe go about providing electricity for tribal members in remote areas of the reservation – pay to extend utility lines, or invest in stand-alone energy systems? This is the million dollar question facing California’s largest Tribe, the Yurok, whose reservation lies in their ancestral homeland along the lower reaches of the Klamath River in Northern California. The Tribe is comparing using stand-alone renewable energy or a power line extension to bring electricity to about eighty households currently unserved by the local utility.

The Tribe’s main concerns in this project are to provide reliable basic electricity services to rural tribal members in a way that makes optimum use of available financial resources, affords tribal control, and provides employment. While there is agreement on the need for electricity, it is less clear which technology will be chosen, how much power will be provided, how the project will be implemented, who will own, maintain, and control the electricity system, and who will have access to the electricity provided. Though there are some disagreements within the Tribe, the Yuroks generally have given priority in this electrification project to micro-hydro and solar electricity options rather than a utility line extension because they perceive that these decentralized renewable energy options cost less than a utility line, and allow the Tribe greater control of land on a reservation 85% of which is owned by outsiders.

This study is based on my work with the Yurok Tribe to assess electrification options and build institutional capacity for implementing a Yurok-controlled electrification project that meets tribal goals in the long-term. This study is first an engineering / economic study of technology options. Second, it is an effort to describe the institutional dynamics and motivations that shape project decision making.

1.1 Audience and Objectives

Parts of this paper were written primarily for the Yurok Tribal Staff, Tribal Council, and interested tribal members. For this audience the document has two primary objectives. The first objective is to help the Tribal Council weigh choices between a variety of distributed renewables options and a utility line extension (or some mix of the two). The second objective is to develop a set of recommendations to help ensure that the electrification project will reliably meet people’s needs. These recommendations are based on interviews and a survey conducted by the tribal staff, as well as economic and engineering considerations. They are informed by a review of the literature on renewable and non-renewable electrification projects in the rural U.S., in developing countries, and on Indian Reservations.

A second audience for this paper is researchers studying or implementing rural electrification and renewable energy projects. For this audience I hope that my master’s project will serve as a case study useful for clarifying decisions in other places regarding rural electrification. This audience may find most useful this study’s treatment of the Yurok Tribe’s previous experience with renewable energy and the way these experiences shape the decisions in the current electrification project.

1.2 Paper Structure

Subsequent sections of this chapter provide an overview of the social and technical dimensions of the Yurok electrification project. Chapter 2 provides a description of the Yurok Reservation, its history, and current socioeconomic conditions, as well as a brief review of the literature of renewable energy electrification. Chapter 3 is an historical description of Yurok experience with electrification and renewable energy, and expands the discussion of the positions of stakeholders in the project. Chapter 4 is an analysis that describes the technology options for electrification, their comparative advantages and disadvantages, and includes an estimate of the initial and life-cycle costs. One promising option that has received little attention thus far is that of a village-scale microhydro-electricity project. This option is explored in Chapter 5. Finally, Chapters 6 and 7 present technical recommendations and conclusions drawn from this study. If implemented, I believe these will improve the chances of success for the Yurok electrification project, and other similar renewable energy rural electrification efforts.

1.3 Methods

This study is based on work that I conducted as a NAREEP team member. My work included semi-structured interviews with Tribal Staff, council members, and tribal members during four site visits, as well as dozens of telephone conversations with the Tribal Staff, renewable energy equipment companies, and agencies involved in community energy and water development. I also created a financial spreadsheet for evaluating a number of electrification alternatives under various scenarios. This spreadsheet used standard engineering economics to calculate the life cycle costs (LCC) of initial capital costs and an uneven stream of payments for replacement parts, fuel, and maintenance costs.

I also created and presented design alternatives for household and village power systems and acted as a liaison between the Tribal Staff and renewable energy contractors to evaluate bids for a pilot project consisting of solar electric systems for five households. Finally, I designed two village-scale hydroelectric systems and explored the viability of these options using hydrologic methods for extending historic stream flow records and generalizing these records to nearby watersheds. By presenting much of this work to the Yurok Staff, Tribal Council, and community members I was able to elicit their feedback and use it to better understand the Yurok needs and concerns regarding the electrification project.

1.4 Yurok Issues that Shape the Project

The Yurok’s previous experience with renewable energy, as well as Tribal land history, government history, and the socioeconomics of the Yurok reservation shape the Yurok electrification project in significant ways. These topics are discussed briefly below, and in more detail in Chapter 2.

1.4.1 The Yurok Experience with Renewable Energy

The Yurok’s past experience with renewable energy electrification can be crudely summarized in several sentences: In 1980, 15 to 20 small solar electric systems were installed on the Yurok reservation as part of a DOE demonstration project. Most of these systems failed within the first year. Some, however, were integrated into home-scale, home-built solar electric, micro hydro, or fossil fuel generator-powered energy systems. Because of utility line right-of-way negotiations with a private power plant developer in the late 1980s (unrelated to the tribal electrification efforts), the Yurok Tribe was able to establish a trust fund endowed with over $1 million explicitly for energy development to meet reservation household needs, with electrification of over eighty unelectrified households on a remote part of the reservation as one of the primary energy needs. The cost of a utility line extension to serve these households had been estimated by the local utility at over $1.5 million dollars, and the Tribe also faces difficult right-of-way and sovereignty issues with a utility line extension. In sum, the Yuroks have a previous mixed experience with renewable energy electricity, an ongoing interest in electrification, and funds available for a rural electrification project.

1.4.2 Land History

For the past 150 years, the Tribe’s history has been characterized by loss of land ownership. This historic loss of land on the reservation creates reasons for an electrification project composed of distributed energy systems and emphasizing tribal control. In 1853, the Yurok had control over nearly 56,000 acres. Sharing a fate similar to many Tribes, tribal land now consists of scattered parcels of trust land totaling 6,000 acres (Huntsinger, 1994). Members of the Tribe, Tribal Council, and Tribal Staff are concerned that the choice of electrification technology will have a profound impact on the patterns of growth on reservation land owned by outsiders. There are fears that a utility line extension, if chosen, would ultimately threaten tribal cohesion by providing incentives for outsiders to move to the area to live or build summer vacation homes. Some members of the Tribe feel that by controlling access to a tribal renewable energy electrification project, the Tribe will be better able to control who moves to the reservation. There is also a widespread perception that even if a utility line extension were the preferred alternative, getting right-of-way access to have the lines cross non-tribal reservation land would be a formidable and slow process.

1.4.3 Government History

The electrification project is also shaped by the Yurok government’s youth and this young government’s need to show results. It was not until 1991 that the Yurok Tribe organized under the Indian Reorganization Act, and gained Federal recognition. In 1993 the Tribe adopted a constitution and elected a Tribal Council. Prior to that, Yuroks resisted centralized government largely because they considered themselves a collection of villages affiliated by a common language and culture, but not a centralized government (Huntsinger, 1994). A Yurok controlled electrification project, whether or not it is intended to, plays an important role in consolidating Yurok Tribal government legitimacy by providing (and controlling) a service that many people want.

1.4.4 Socioeconomic Conditions

Finally, electrification is seen by some members of the Tribe, the Tribal Staff, and Tribal Council as a concrete step to improve socioeconomic conditions on the reservation – and particularly the remote upriver section of reservation where the project will take place. The Tribe’s population is just under 4,000; of these 960 live on the reservation, and approximately 150 live on the upriver section. The Tribe as a whole has an unemployment rate of 54% (Yurok Economic Development Plan, 1996), roughly 10 times the U.S. national average. The average per capita income is $5,800, less than 1/6th the national average. On the upriver section of the reservation housing stock is in desperate need of repair, with many homes having structural damage and leaking roofs. "Economic development" for this section of the reservation is an elusive goal sought by some Yurok leaders and some tribal members. There is a perception that with an appropriate electricity supply will come "economic development", and without it the upriver reservation will be left as part of the "third world".

Economic figures, however, tell only part of the story. The upriver section of the reservation has a long history of self-sufficiency. Self-employment and the prevalence of subsistence lifestyles should be kept in mind when interpreting employment figures. Similarly, the prevalence of owner-built or owner-modified homes may sway assessments of certain homes as "deficient".

1.5 Participants and Their Perspectives on Electrification

Those with a stake in the outcome of the electrification project can be divided into several groups: The Tribal Council, the Tribal Staff, upriver community members, the engineering firm (renewable energy installer dealer), and technical assistance providers. Each group has perceptibly different concerns and motivations with regard to the electrification project’s costs, responsible parties, choice of technology, and implementation.

1.5.1 The Tribal Council

The Tribal Council is the governing body of the Tribe. It is an elected group of nine members, consisting of a Tribal Chair and Vice Chair elected at large, and seven Council Members elected on a district basis. The upriver section of the reservation (the site of the electrification project) represents two districts: Weitchpec and Pecwan. The Tribal Council is split with regards to electrification options. A vocal minority on the council is in favor of a utility line extension, arguing that a line extension is "real electricity", and it will bring "real economic development" to the area. The council member most opposed to renewable energy lives with a solar electric system himself, and is disappointed with the maintenance required, and the relatively small amount of power it provides.

Others on the Tribal Council are in favor of stand-alone renewable energy systems and opposed to a line extension. Their main argument is that renewable energy systems allow tribal control over electricity, and this tribal control can provide incentives for tribal members to move to the reservation, while providing no such incentive to outsiders. (The Tribe can offer subsidized renewable energy systems to tribal members). They also feel that tribal ownership of energy production will enhance tribal autonomy, and keep money on the reservation that would otherwise leave in the form of utility bills.

The Tribal Council is particularly sensitive to the needs of tribal elders, of which there are many on the upriver section of the reservation. Any electrification option, therefore, must provide reliable, safe power for these elders. The Tribal Council is also concerned about the ultimate cost of the project, and the time frame. They would like to see the project happen sooner rather than later, and at a low price to preserve the Energy Fund for meeting other energy needs such as providing energy efficiency assistance to reservation homeowners.

1.5.2 Tribal Staff

The Tribal Staff is appointed, not elected, and is responsible for implementing Tribal Council policy and administering programs. The Tribal Staff is in favor of renewable energy options, using similar arguments about the benefits of tribal control. The Tribal Staff also sees renewable energy as a tool that can be used in land use planning. By controlling the conditions under which subsidized power is available, the Tribal Staff is better able to control who builds where. Renewable energy becomes an instrument to use in helping to enforce a (not yet created) land use plan. The Tribal Staff also sees renewable energy as a key component in a long-term vision of ecological and sustainable development for the reservation that can serve as a model for other Tribes and the world.

1.5.3 Upriver Community Members

The upriver Yurok reservation community is the traditional heart of the reservation, and is home to many of the Tribe’s elders. For this reason, and because it is "economically depressed" it has the particular attention of the Yurok government. The people who live here are interested in the services that electricity provides: being able to run lights at night, power washing machines, and watch TV. Though not as inclined to talk of renewable energy in terms of an overall vision for the area, many state a preference for renewable energy systems because they would not like the changes to their community that they fear would come with a utility line: more people moving in and the area "filling up" . They also favor tribal renewable energy because they would rather see their money for bills go to pay tribal enterprises rather than PG&E. In a questionnaire carried out by the Tribal Staff in November, 1995, only 7 of 43 respondents said they would be in favor of extending the PG&E line from Weitchpec (where it currently ends) to the community of Wautec (27 were opposed and 9 gave no response).

1.5.4 Installer / Dealer

In an effort to show progress on the project, in 1996 the Tribe approached a local renewable energy installer / dealer , Wes Edwards of Wesco Electric, to put in eight household systems. In general, the installer / dealer thinks in terms of providing systems for individual homes, and in designing these systems with sufficient capacity that his customers have few complaints. Since Wesco’s revenues depend on the amount of equipment the company sells, Edwards also has a direct incentive to sell large systems, though this incentive is probably secondary to the incentive to do quality work and to build a constructive business relationship with the Yurok Tribe.

1.5.5 Assistance Providers

The category "Assistance Providers" has included consulting firms, Sandia National Labs, and most recently, NAREEP. These institutions have generally tried to take a broad view of the Yurok’s energy needs. Previous Yurok work with Sandia and consulting firms ended because at the time money was not available to proceed with project, and because the Tribe was preoccupied with other pressing concerns.

With outside advice institutions there exists a power dynamic that the Tribal Staff described in our first visit as the "100 mile factor". Institutions that travel a long distance to meet with the Tribe are perceived as having more expertise than those that are local. It is somewhat paradoxical in the case of renewable energy, since Humboldt County is world-famous for its renewable energy engineering. Nevertheless, this perception is important and does impact the dynamics with Yurok stakeholders.

1.6 NAREEP Technical Assistance

Faced with a need for electrification, a sour previous history of renewable energy systems, uncertainties surrounding a utility line extension, and having the money for a project, in 1995 the Tribe approached NAREEP for assistance in exploring available electrification options. As we came to understand some of the issues in the project, it became clear that at least in some cases, the primary barrier to decision making was a lack of information. We worked primarily with the Tribal Staff to identify what the important questions were, and then set about trying to answer them. These questions were:

1. What are all the practical options for electricity?

2. How do the electrification options compare economically?

3. How can the energy issue be considered as a whole, looking at all possible ways of addressing people’s needs for energy services, rather than a certain amount of electricity, per se?

4. How can the community be involved in the decisions?

5. How can the Yurok Tribe have greatest control over the electrification project?

6. How will maintenance be carried out?

1.7 NAREEP Activities with the Yurok

In an attempt to find answers or solutions to these six questions, NAREEP conducted engineering and economic analysis, and engaged in a sustained dialogue with tribal stakeholders. In the process, we arrived at a few surprising results.

1.7.1 Electrification Cost Comparison Spreadsheet

The Yurok Electrification Cost Comparison Spreadsheet is an effort to answer the questions, "what are the available options for electricity?" and "How do the electrification options stack up economically?" The work consisted mainly of researching reasonable assumptions for different system options, and using these assumptions to calculate the life cycle costs of each option. (The life cycle cost is equivalent to the amount of money that would have to be set aside in a bank earning interest now in order to pay for the system, fuel, replacement parts, and maintenance over the lifetime of the project). Another objective of this spreadsheet was to make it transparent and user-friendly so that the Tribe could use the software to assess options using their own assumptions.

The spreadsheet and its explanation form the basis of Chapter 4. The cost comparison spreadsheet considers eight different electrification options under three different scenarios. The accompanying "spreadsheet explanation" provides an introduction to each system and a discussion of its advantages and disadvantages. Some of the results of the spreadsheet are summarized in figure 1.7.1 below:

Figure 1.7.1: Per Household Life Cycle Costs of Electrification Options

One of the most surprising results of the spreadsheet was that the life cycle cost of the solar electric systems that the Tribe was installing would come to nearly $50,000 per household. Only 20 such households would exhaust the Tribe’s $1 million Energy Trust Fund if there were no other sources of revenue such as user fees. Smaller PV systems that have been successful on the Hopi and Los Coyotes reservation were included in the model, and cost considerably less. While they produce less power, it is likely that to most users electricity has a declining marginal utility. This is to say, a system that produces half as much electricity as a larger system is more than half as valuable as the larger system. The second surprising result from the spreadsheet is that village scale hydroelectricity is a particularly promising option.

1.7.2 Village Hydro

What are all the available options for electricity? NAREEP’s largest contribution to this question may have been in exploring the potential of village scale hydroelectricity for electrification. Village hydroelectricity is almost certainly the least expensive renewable energy option for many remote Yuroks. High, steep slopes above the Klamath River, combined with abundant perennial streams provide optimal conditions for small-scale hydropower. Using conservative assumptions, a 50 kW village hydro plant on Pecwan Creek serving 50 households would provide more than five times the electricity produced by the solar electric systems now being considered at one fifth the life cycle cost per household.

One of the critical questions concerning the village hydro was whether or not there were nearby streams with enough water to power the hydroelectric plant (subsequently referred to as "the hydro") in dry summers. Using topographic maps of the watersheds, USGS historic daily mean stream flow records from two nearby creeks, and Western Regional Climate Center monthly precipitation data from a station at Klamath, I was able to find a nearby site which has three times the necessary stream flow even during the driest summer in 50 years on record.

Questions remain about the possible impact of the hydro on sacred sites and stream ecology, as well as the willingness of villagers to share a power plant. If these turn out to be surmountable then the village hydro option may be able to provide for tribal control of electricity (the Tribal Council and staff’s main argument for renewable energy), while also providing abundant power (addressing one of the critics’ main complaints against renewable energy), all at a cost substantially below that of a utility line extension.

1.7.3 Community Laundry Facility

How can the energy issue be considered as a whole? By considering peoples’ need for electricity services (rather than for electricity per se), we were able to offer a creative solution that substantially reduced the size of electricity systems required. When the installer/dealer first specified solar electric systems to power homes, the largest single load in many homes was the washing machine. To ensure adequate power for this large load, the system size (and therefore cost) was substantial.

Instead of specifying individual systems large enough to power everyone’s individual washer, we suggested creating a community laundry facility (See Appendix: Community Laundry Facility). A shared laundry facility requires fewer washing machines as well as less renewable energy equipment. The community laundry facility fits particularly well with the village hydro system idea. The building that houses the laundry can also house electrical equipment for the power plant. Excess electricity not used by houses can be diverted to heat water to be used in the washing machines. Similarly, the washing machines themselves can be treated as a diversion load since it is not necessary that they be available absolutely 100% of the time. Electrical water heating from surplus hydro electricity in the wet winter months is supplemented in dryer summer months by solar water heaters. At a Yurok community meeting, our suggestion of a community laundry facility was greeted enthusiastically because currently many people without washing machines and generators to power them must drive as far as 60 miles round-trip to a laundromat in Hoopa.

1.7.4 Community Meeting

Community members exert influence in ways that may not be readily apparent to the outsider (Murguian, Huntsinger, pers. comm.). Tribal elders, held in high esteem by Yurok society, are a particularly powerful constituency for the Tribal Council. The community is small, and news travels fast. The Tribal Staff, therefore, treads carefully. Nevertheless, it makes sense to explicitly address issues in a public forum, rather than rely completely on local politics to push forward the agenda of the upriver Yurok.

In our visits to the reservation and in conversations with the Tribal Staff we strongly advised that a community meeting be held to provide a forum for community members voices to be heard in the decision making process. In NAREEP’s latest visit in March 97, a meeting about renewable energy was held in the Shaker Church at the village of Johnson’s, attended by members of the community, Yurok Staff, Tribal Council, and four NAREEP team members. Maintaining a tradition of these meetings throughout the project seems an important way to involve community members and incorporate their ideas and concerns in the electrification project.

1.7.5 Yurok Public Utilities District

To address the Yurok government’s desire to control electricity service, NAREEP team member Tom Starrs (ERG post-doctoral student) has worked with the Yurok Staff to create a Yurok Tribal public utility district (PUD). This utility will be in charge of maintenance and billing for the renewable energy systems as well as for the community water systems that supply many upriver Yurok villages.

1.7.6 Renewable Energy System Maintenance

Lack of maintenance was one of the main causes contributing to the failure of the early Yurok solar electric project. NAREEP has consistently encouraged the Yuroks to hire a Yurok maintenance crew, as well as to take data on the electrical performance of systems to diagnose the reasons for problems, rather than just treating symptoms. This is particularly important for systems with lead acid batteries, since the health of the battery strongly depends on the way the system is operated. The Yuroks have approached several tribal members to be maintenance people, some of whom worked with the installer / dealer when he installed the five household systems. The Yuroks also have plans to send maintenance people to a renewable energy training program recommended by NAREEP.

2. Literature Review

2.1 The Yurok Reservation Description and History

An understanding of the geography of the reservation and patterns of land ownership is critical for an understanding of the particular motivations and barriers to the Yurok electrification project. Similarly, Yurok government history, as well as current socioeconomic conditions of the upriver reservation play important roles in the actual decisions made in the Yurok electrification project. This chapter provides an overview of the upriver section of the Yurok reservation including a description of the local geography, social history, land and government history, socioeconomic conditions, and current concerns.

2.1.1 Geographical Setting and Land Ownership

The Yurok reservation is located in Northern California, north of Eureka, along the Klamath River (Figure 2.1.1). The Tribe consists of just under 4,000 members, only 960 of whom live on the reservation. Of those living on the reservation, most live in the town of Klamath, at the mouth of the river. The reservation is roughly defined as one mile either side of the Klamath River, from the Pacific ocean to the upriver boundary at the Hoopa reservation, a distance of approximately 40 miles by river. Of the roughly 56,000 acres within the reservation boundaries, over 85% is owned by outsiders, with Simpson Timber company being the largest landholder. Much of this loss of land is directly attributable to the Dawes Act of 1887, as explained later in this chapter.

The terrain is steep and rugged, predominantly forest land of redwood, Douglas fir, and oak. The population centers on or near the reservation include Klamath and Klamath Glen ( at the mouth of the Klamath river near Highway 101), Weitchpec (upriver along highway 96), and the remote villages of Pecwan and Wautec (in the geographic center of the reservation along the dead-end one-lane highway 196). The Yurok rural electrification project will provide electricity to houses between Wautec and Weitchpec, and area of the reservation known as the "upriver".

2.1.2 Social History

The Yurok Indians are indigenous to the lower Klamath River and the Pacific Coast adjacent to its mouth. Before contact with Europeans, the Yurok were a cultural affiliation of about 2,500 people, living in over 50 villages spread along the Klamath from the confluence of the Trinity and the Klamath to the ocean, and along a 90 mile strip of ocean coast from Wilson Creek to Little River (Huntsinger, 1994). They were united by a common language, customary law, and a way of life supported primarily by salmon fishing, hunting, and acorn harvesting. The villages were linked by transportation along the Klamath in dugout canoes, and by an extensive set of foot paths. Social relations between the Yuroks and their neighbors were extensive, involving trade and attending each others ceremonies, as well as occasional feuds and warfare between tribal groups and villages (Kroeber 1925).

One defining characteristic of the Yurok territory was that within its boundaries, Yurok rules and conventions, as opposed to those of other Tribes, could be invoked to handle an infraction. The establishment of some villages has been attributed to banishment of individuals for various violations of the rules of society (Murguian, pers. comm.). For instance, financial compensation (in the form of ceremonial regalia or rare shells) was required when an individuals were harmed by the action of another (Thompson, 1913). When unable to pay the price, an individual might have to leave his village. If he prospered, others eventually might be attracted to the area he occupied, leading to the establishment of a new village.

Non-Indians first settled in Yurok territory during the Gold Rush of 1849, bringing with them smallpox, tuberculosis and measles. By one account, half of the Indians on the Klamath succumbed to measles in 1852 (Arnold & Reed, 1957 in Huntsinger, 1994). Episodic and localized violence, between Yuroks and whites arose over conflicts over Indian women and land (Huntsinger, 1994). In the early 1850s, nearly all of the Yurok villages along the Klamath were burned by miners. Several villages retreated to the high mountains for months at a time to avoid disease and violence.

The 1870s, 80s and 90s saw the incursion of a number of white settlers into Yurok territory. These included trespass harvesting of timber, and land claims under the Homestead Act of 1862. In 1885, "floating cannery" entered the mouth of the Klamath and began harvesting salmon that the Yurok and other Tribes depended on heavily. In 1879 the U.S. military was mobilized to try to evict settlers and stop illegal fishing, but these efforts were largely ignored. Yurok fisherman worked in a cannery established at Requa in 1890s, marking the beginning of the Yurok shift from subsistence to a wage-based economy. In later years, employment in the logging industry surpassed fishing. By 1916, when Lucy Thompson wrote To the American Indian, Reminiscences of a Yurok Woman, the cultural landscape was covered by the white man’s frame houses, clothes, economy and regulation (Lang, 1991).

Through much of the 20th century many Yuroks continued to practice a largely subsistence lifestyle, hunting, fishing, and collecting acorns. The viability of this means of existence was marginalized by ecological changes and regulations imposed by Europeans. In the 1930s, forest practices prohibited traditional Yurok land management techniques that involved burning. As a result, availability of edible bulbs, wild sunflower, nuts, and other plants declined. The right to use traditional forest management practices was not restored until 1977. In 1934 subsistence gill-netting was banned (as was all Indian commercial fishing). Year-round Indian hunting rights throughout the reservation were guaranteed only in 1975. In August 1978 Indian gill-netting rights were unexpectedly placed under moratorium as a conservation measure. Careless logging practices, herbicides, over-fishing, and the Iron Gate dam upstream on the Klamath River have endangered the Klamath and Trinity River salmon stocks (Murguian, pers. comm.)

2.1.3 Land & Government History

An overview of land ownership on the Yurok provides important background and context for the motivations, origins, and barriers of the Yurok’s electrification project. The fascinating history of land ownership on the Yurok is well covered by Huntsinger (1994). In a nutshell, the story is one of ever decreasing Yurok control and ownership of land. Aboriginal territory was approximately one million acres, which shrunk to 55,000 acres held in Federal Trust by 1891. By 1910 only 10,340 acres remained in Tribal Trust, scattered in a patchwork throughout the reservation. Huntsinger calculates that less than 5,000 acres of the reservation land remains in trust status, either as tribal trust, village reserve, or trust allotment land. Figure 2.1.3 shows land ownership in the central section of the reservation. Dark gray represents land in private ownership (largely by non-Indians).

Table 2.1.3: Yurok Land Base. Source: Yurok Overall Economic Plan (1996). Note that the "Tribally Owned" estimates are substantially different than Huntsinger’s estimation of 6,000 acres of tribally controlled land.

Confusion and changing federal policies regarding the status of Yurok downstream section of the reservation accounted for some of this loss (Huntsinger, 1994). The bulk of Yurok loss of land ownership was a direct result of the Dawes Act (General Allotment Act) of 1887. The Dawes Act was part of an effort of 1880s federal Indian policy to break up reservations into farm-sized units and distribute the parcels to Indian families. As amended in 1891 (26 Stat. 794), eighty acres of cropland or 160 acres of grazing land could be allotted to each individual Indian. The remaining "surplus" reservation land could be purchased by the Department of the Interior, and made available to the general public. Money that the Tribes received from this "surplus land" was to be managed by the Treasury and could be appropriated by Congress for purposes of the Tribe’s education or civilization.

Under the Dawes Act, Indians had four years after authorization to select their allotment, or the Special Indian Agent would do so for them. The U.S. government then held the land for 25 years in trust. At the end of this trust period, the individual Indian received the land in fee simple (meaning he or she could sell it). A Hoopa Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) superintendent noted in a report that "for some reason the land that was sold [to whites, after being returned to the public domain] contained practically all the valuable timber and the land that was allotted to the Indians was what was left over" (Theodoratus, Chartkoff and Chartkoff, 1979). At the end of the 25 year trust period, the great majority of fee-patented land was also sold (Huntsinger, 1994).

In the early 1930s, the neighboring Hoopa Indians organized as the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), forming a government composed of a Tribal Council, roll, and voting process. Yuroks, however, resisted forming a tribal government (Huntsinger, 1994). While this choice limited their ability to negotiate with the Federal government and limited their access to funding sources for economic development, it was consistent with the Yurok’s identity associated with family groupings and villages, united by culture and language but not by centralized government.

A second reason for the Yuroks resistance to forming a tribal government concerned proceeds from timber sales on the Hoopa Reservation. When the Hoopa Reservation was originally formed in 1864 it was described to be "for Indian use" without specification as to areas for Hoopa or Yurok use. The Hoopa, beginning in 1949, appropriated proceeds from timber sales on the Hoopa reservation. In 1963 the Jessie Shortcase was filed on behalf of the Yuroks arguing that the Yuroks were entitled to equal share in these proceeds. In 1973 the Tribe won their case in the United States Court of Claims, with 70% of the proceeds going to the Yurok, and the remaining 30% going to the Hoopa (based on a 3 to 1 population ratio of Yurok to Hoopa). The funds for the Yurok, however, were held in trust by the Federal Government until formal federal recognition of the Yurok Tribe (Huntsinger, 1994).

In 1988 the Hoopa-Yurok Settlement Act was passed partially to address the issue of federal recognition. The act specifically mandated that the Yurok form an Interim Tribal Council to develop a constitution. A Yurok transition team was appointed by the Department of the Interior and 3,500 of 8,000 applicants were officially enrolled in the Tribe. An interim council was elected in 1991 and was charged with drafting a tribal constitution and overseeing the election of a Yurok Tribal Council in 1993. In 1994 the Yurok Tribe gained federal recognition, but as of spring 1997 still refused to waive Yurok rights to continue contesting the terms of the Settlement Act in court. The Federal government subsequently refuses to release the timber proceeds.

The new Yurok Tribal Council consists of a tribal chair and vice-chair elected at large, and seven council members. Members are elected to three-year terms. Even with a formal tribal government structure, village identities remain strong. The existing Tribal Council’s members are elected from different "districts" on the reservation. The geographic boundaries of these districts preserve, to some extent, the village-based identity of the traditional Yurok political divisions. Not surprisingly, opinions about electrification options fall along district lines. The Weitchpec district’s council member and many Weitchpec residents strongly favor a utility line extension, while those down-river in Wautec do not.

2.1.4 Yurok Socio-Economic Overview:

The Yurok Tribe’s average per capita income is less than 1/6 that of the average US citizen, while the unemployment figure is ten times higher than the US average.

Table 2.1.4. Yurok figures from the Yurok Economic Development Plan, 1996. US figures from the U.S. Department of Labor WWW site for March 1997.

The Tribal Staff has proposed several options for potential economic development, including an RV park, an aquaculture facility, aggregate extraction from the Klamath River, and a value-added fish processing facility (Yurok Economic Development Plan, 1996). The native fishery has been in a state of serious decline since the early 1980s, due to continuing degradation of spawning habitat, dam diversions for agriculture, and the cumulative effect of logging in the area. Significant numbers of tribal members continue to make their living from the salmon fishery, however. The Fisheries Division of the Yurok Natural Resource Department is currently attempting to gain increased funding for a number of initiatives that involve restoration work on the major spawning streams, in-stream survey work, small-scale rearing ponds, and other projects designed to increase salmon survival. While the timber industry remains a major employer for tribal members in the region, declining reserves and increasingly stringent environmental regulations mean that the industry may no longer be so singularly relied upon as a source of income. The Natural Resources Department is currently staffing a Tribal Forestry Division that will oversee the BIA's preparation of an overall timber management plan for the Tribe. With the reservation’s proximity to Redwood National Park and the Pacific Ocean, as well as its Klamath River resource, the Yurok Tribal Staff is also looking into tourism as a source of revenue. In July 1994, the Tribal Council met with officials from the National Park Service and the California State Park Service to discuss a recent proposal for eco-tourism development.

2.1.5 Current Issues

A survey of Tribal Council campaign statements published in the Yurok News (1995) identifies the following as the primary concerns facing the electorate: ongoing housing needs, land acquisition, fishery enhancement, jobs, corruption in the tribal government, health and welfare of elders, Indian child welfare, drug & alcohol rehabilitation, and equal treatment of upriver and down-river Yurok. The introduction to the Yurok Economic Development Plan lists land acquisition, housing and human services, new tribal enrollments, governance infrastructure, and economic self-sufficiency as long-range goals for the Tribe (Yurok Tribe, 1996). "Bringing alternative energy or other utility power to the upper Yurok Reservation" is also a priority listed in the first page of the 1996-7 Yurok Economic Development Plan. Electrification plays a role in many of these current issues. For example, lack of electrification is identified as a health and safety issue to the extent that kerosene and propane lights are a fire danger (particularly in houses with small children) and a health hazard (fumes). Existing dilapidated renewable energy systems are also a fire hazard (unsafe wiring) and a health hazard (exposure to lead and sulfuric acid from discarded batteries). The electrification project is linked to existing efforts to upgrade housing, much of which suffers from extensive damage: rotting foundations, leaky or sagging roofs, etc. The Tribe is using LIHEAP (Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and State of California funds to improve the structural condition of the houses, as well as to add insulation and improve building energy efficiency.

The electrification project is also seen to play a role in bringing Yuroks back to the reservation. Those that live off the reservation are used to electricity (and other services) available in urban or suburban environments, and may be more willing to move back if access to electricity is available. To address child health and welfare, the Head Start school needed electricity for lights and refrigeration. The Yurok electrification efforts may also include electricity systems to power microwave telephone repeater stations that will bring telephone service to the area. Finally, if, as planned, the Yuroks opt for forming their own utility district, the electricity project will help provide jobs for those Yuroks who will administer and maintain the energy systems.

2.1.6 The Upriver Section of the Reservation

The Yurok electrification project takes place on the "up river" section of the reservation. This remote part of the reservation is a 40 mile stretch along the Klamath River, extending from Klamath Glen to the boundary of the Hoopa Reservation. The downstream (northwestern) fifteen miles of this section is roadless and largely uninhabited, and the remaining 25 miles is reachable by a one lane paved road (highway 169) from Weitchpec to Wautec, or by boat up the river.

The area is home to around 80 families, many of whom are elders. Families with small children are served by a Head Start school and an elementary school in the area, but middle school and high school students take an hour-long bus ride to a school in Hoopa. In general there are less opportunities for jobs in the remote upriver section of the Yurok reservation than there is in the reservation as a whole. One of the major employers is the Weitchpec Nursery, owned by an Anglo. Weitchpec Nursery is a small plant nursery offering bedding plants (flowers, fruits and vegetables) and other products, including hot pepper sauces made under the name Weitchpec Chile Co. The nursery employs around 10 Yuroks. The nursery currently uses solar electricity for lights, radio telephone, and small greenhouse fan. For large jobs, like using heat guns to seal the packaging for products, the nursery uses electricity from a generator.

2.1.7 Upriver Reservation Energy Supply

Homes in the area are heated by wood, consuming roughly one cord per house per month. Much of this wood is cut by families on the reservation, but if purchased it costs around $160 per cord (pers. comm.). Cooking and refrigerators use propane. Lighting is provided by kerosene or propane lamps, or by electric lights from renewable energy systems or generators.

2.2 Rural Electrification

Several literatures offer perspectives on rural electrification that may be relevant for the Yurok Tribe: studies of electrification by utility line extension; the gray literature of the "home power movement" covering privately financed distributed renewable energy systems in the U.S., the literature of renewable energy projects in developing countries, and the experience of other Native American Tribes with renewable energy electrification.

2.2.1 Electrification by Line Extension.

Given the widespread prevalence of electricity, and its role in shaping our immediate present, there is surprisingly little academic literature about rural electrification in the U.S.

Several volumes have been written covering the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (Lilienthal, 1944), and are generally concerned with new applications of electricity produced by the large hydro and nuclear projects built by the TVA. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has published accounts that emphasize the improvements in rural life, which, it is claimed, resulted from electrification (Muller, 1944). David Nye’s fascinating social history, Electrifying America (1990) carefully details the strong and unpredictable social changes unleashed by electrification as it grew from a rare item of conspicuous consumption for the urban elite in the 1890s to its prevalence in urban homes and industry, and rural homes and agriculture in the U.S. by the 1940s.

In the U.S. early electrification projects were undertaken by private utilities or municipal cooperative utilities. Since electrification of rural areas required long line extensions to dispersed customers, serving rural customers was generally not as profitable as serving urban areas. For this reason, early rural electrification in the U.S. was accomplished by a variety of distributed electricity sources: micro-hydroelectric, wind power, and gasoline or kerosene generators. Of these, the most prevalent was the Windcharger Corporation’s 32-volt wind turbine, used to power farm house equipment, lights, and radios. Tens of thousands of farms bought the Windcharger for a $15 down payment and monthly installment (Nye, 1990).

Widespread rural electrification by grid extension was slow to come the U.S. By 1935, only one U.S. farm in nine had electricity, compared to 85% in Denmark, and 90% in France and Germany. U.S. rural electrification by line extension was eventually accomplished by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (1933) and the Rural Electric Administration (REA) (1935). These federal programs were established by New Deal legislation that discussed electrification less in terms of profit and loss, than in terms of rights and minimal standards. The REA, covering 46 states, eventually largely accomplished the goal of bringing electricity to rural farms in the U.S., at the cost of billions of dollars of federal subsidy. Coverage was not complete, however, and conspicuously, many Native American homes were not connected.

A utility line extension to unserved areas on the Yurok reservation can be seen as the continuation of this historical process of subsidized rural electrification. Even with the Tribe paying PG&E’s $6.71 per foot charge for line extension, the utility sees this project as a "losing proposition financially", but one that that the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) requires. In a conversation with the chief engineer at Willow Creek PG&E who would be in charge of the project, I was told that PG&E would "not even be able to pay the taxes on the line extension" with the revenues received from the small number of houses in the proposed service area (Schmell, pers. comm.). Nevertheless, the distances involved in extending the line to the Yurok’s remote households make the line extension option appear very expensive to the tribe (see Chapter 4).

2.2.2 "Home Power" Electrification by Distributed Renewable Energy Systems

With the coming of the REA, most small renewable energy systems on farms across the U.S. were abandoned because they could not be integrated into the grid, and because they required higher maintenance and were very limited in power output compared with utility power. But the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s and 80s saw the beginnings of a significant return to distributed renewable energy systems for electric power, using new photovoltaic solar panels (developed originally to power satellites in orbit), as well as wind turbines, microhydro power plants and gasoline back-up generators. In 1994 an estimated 100,000 home in the U.S. were powered by home-sized renewable energy systems (Schaffer, 1994). The industry supports a number of mail order catalogs, and employs hundreds of engineer/electricians specializing in designing and installing home-sized renewable energy systems (Wilconsin, 1995).

A survey of over 300 of these renewable energy powered homes reported high levels of satisfaction with their home power systems, particularly in comparison with the utility grid, which was seen as less satisfactory, less reliable, and less environmentally friendly. Most of these respondents (95%) installed their own systems, while only 11% used a professional installer at some point. The average system cost was under $9000 (Coleman, 1994). But this survey may have been biased – respondents were self-selected from a pool of 15,000 subscribers to Home Power Magazine.

The existence of the "home power" movement indicates that a core of people with time and engineering skills, and motivated by environmental and self-sufficiency values, can be happy with renewable energy systems for home use. But the "home power" gray literature cannot answer the question of whether these systems work sustainably for a broader public, or a group without latent engineering skills or environmentalist motivations. For this question, it may be useful to consider the literature that covers the fate of home scale renewable energy systems (often given by foreign donor organizations) in developing countries.

2.2.3 Renewable Electrification in Developing Countries

The experience with home-scale renewable energy projects in developing countries can provide useful lessons on the sets of circumstances that can lead to the failure of renewable energy projects. Maintenance and reliability problems have plagued projects (Inversin, 1996, Kammen 1995), particularly problems with lead acid storage batteries (Huacuz Jim, et al. 1995). While hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on solar home systems in developing countries, few sustainable mechanisms are in place to ensure that these systems continue to operate. Poor operation has been attributed to several factors (Inversin, July 1996):

• Businesses focus on selling merchandise and are rarely equipped or interested in on-site inspection and periodic maintenance;

• The dispersed distribution of the purchasers over a wide area discourages visits for servicing at reasonable cost and effort;

• the desire to maximize financial returns encourages a business to overlook maintenance because this would increase its costs;

• promoters try to reduce system cost to increase affordability by omitting components that are critical for proper long-term operation or by using cheaper components of lower quality;

• purchasers of renewable energy home systems rarely see the need for service because the technology appears simple, and when the systems are new they generally function well; and

• Donor agencies involved in renewable energy projects often have little on-going involvement with the communities where they install systems. After the installation is complete and photographs are taken, visits to ensure that the project is still working are infrequent.

Rural electrification by utility line extension, however, has also been problematic in most developing countries. In many countries, rural electrification currently fails to keep up with population growth. Where line extensions are installed, they are characterized by poor reliability, high line losses, and high costs (usually borne by the government). Line extensions are often awarded as political favors, leading to inefficient service area growth. Metering individual customers is prohibitively costly in rural areas, and customers are charged a flat rate, leaving no incentive to conserve electricity. Finally, some scholars have noted that even where rural electrification projects have been successful in a technological sense, they do not necessarily lead to economic development. Other factors, like access to markets, are more important (Joshi, 1986; Foley, 1992).

2.2.4 Native American Experience with Renewable Energy

Renewable energy has had a long history on Native American lands, starting with solar architecture principles embodied in Indian architecture, and including the world’s first solar electric village power system installed at the Schuchuli village on the Papago Reservation in 1987 (Strong, 1990). In the past decade, Native American Tribes have shown an increased interest in using renewable energy and developing renewable energy resources on their lands (Rogers, 1991, Eisenberg, 1995). This is in part fostered by an increasing awareness of the social and environmental effects of traditional energy extraction (coal, oil, and uranium) from Indian reservations, as well as a growing desire for Indian control of Indian energy development (Ambler, 1994).

The Hopi Tribe in Arizona has traditionally opposed utility power lines on their land because they wanted to minimize dependence on Anglo institutions, and because they believed the power lines disturbed the spiritual energies of their mesa pueblos. Hopi Solar Electric Enterprise, a Hopi-run business, designs and installs PV systems for Navajo and Hopi communities, as well as providing technical training workshops to Tribes throughout the U.S. and to indigenous groups in Ecuador. Hopi systems are small: a typical Hopi PV system provides power for several DC fluorescent lights and a stereo or small TV, and costs $975 installed (Cole & Skerrett, 1995).

The trend toward Native American renewable energy development was facilitated by the availability of funding for feasibility studies and renewable energy projects through Title XXVI of the 1992 Energy Policy Act (EPAct) (Center for Applied Research, 1995). In the fiscal years (FY) 1994 and 1995, Title XXVI awarded 35 grants for Native American initiated feasibility studies of solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, cogeneration, and hydroelectric projects. Renewable energy feasibility study grants have also been made available through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Office of Indian Programs Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), and the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), among others.

Native Americans in California already have a number of years of experience with a variety of tribally-initiated renewable energy projects. From 1984 to its demise in 1995 under California budget cuts, the California Energy Extension Service (CEES) worked with Tribes to assess and develop renewable energy for community and economic development. Their work included programs in solar architecture and energy efficiency for tribal buildings, as well as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric systems. In 1989 CEES mailed a questionnaire that asked California Tribes to identify existing or planned tribally initiated renewable energy projects on their reservations. The responses from these questionnaires form the basis of a renewable energy handbook with the title, Renewable Energy: Native to California (CEES, 1990). This book’s objective was "to provide examples from Indian country of valid, tested methods for using renewable energy technologies and share the stories of the people who planned the projects." The handbook generally points to Native American renewable energy projects as successes, particularly those that meet social needs (lighting, heating, etc.) rather than those designed for economic development (e.g. wind farms to sell power to utilities). Since the handbook came out, there has been little further work to comprehensively assess these Tribes experiences with renewable energy (Cornwall, pers. comm.).

The Yuroks have had as much experience with renewable electricity systems as any Tribe in the U.S. In the 1980s a number of solar electric and microhydro systems were installed, but due to bad design and lack of maintenance, many have failed. Chapter 3 discusses the Yurok experience with renewable energy in greater detail.

3. The Yurok Electrification Project

The current Yurok electrification project for the upriver section of the reservation should be seen in the context of a history of electrification efforts that has spanned at least two decades. As a Tribal Council member carefully pointed out to me, the process has evolved in a time of great transition for the Yurok, in which the tribe went through three forms of government: the Yurok Transition team, the Interim Council, and the first Tribal Council. The Yurok experience with electrification projects on the upriver has ranged from individuals installing their own "home power" systems to the involvement of institutions such as the Department of Energy and Sandia National Labs. Results have been mixed. This chapter reviews the history of the Yurok’s experiences with renewable energy and the origins of the $1.5 million Energy Trust Fund intended largely to finance electrification efforts on the upriver. It also reviews efforts to assess energy needs, and presents a perspective on the positions and motivations of the participants (or stakeholders) in the electrification project.

3.1 Past And Present Renewable Energy Systems On The Reservation

3.1.1 DOE Installed PV Systems

In 1980 a demonstration project of 15-20 stand-alone PV systems was installed in remote homes on the reservation. It is believed that the systems were installed by Solar Electric Specialties (SES) (Perez, pers. comm.) under a contract from the DOE (CEES, 1992). The Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) coordinated the effort. Each system consisted of two ARCO 16-2000 PV panels (each 35 Watts peak), a relay-based charge controller, a lead-acid battery, and two DC fluorescent lights. The installer left no documentation, and provided no training for the householders. Furthermore, a critical part, the charge controller, failed in most systems within the first year. As a result, as of 1992 only four of the original systems were operating (CEES, 1992).

Figure 3.1.1: Schematic of Small Solar Electric Systems Installed in the 1980s.

3.1.2 Home-made and Privately Installed Renewable Energy Systems

An energy questionnaire for residents of the upriver reservation carried out by the Tribal Staff in 1995 gathered information about energy system ownership. Of 43 respondents, 29 had electricity in their homes provided by some sort of remote energy system, while 12 had none. Of these, the most common energy system was a gasoline generator (16 respondents). Five had solar panels (most left over from the NCIDC systems), while four had small micro-hydroelectric systems. Only one respondent claimed the present condition of his energy system was "good", while 21 claimed "fair", and 16 claimed "poor". (Given that the Tribe was carrying out the survey with the intent to begin an electrification project, system users may have perceived an incentive to report that their systems were worse off then they really were.) In our visits to the reservation, we had the opportunity to talk with a number of upriver residents with renewable energy systems. The following brief case studies illustrate some of what we saw.

3.1.2.1 Pleased with Small Hydro

One 75 year old Yurok runs his house on a 300 watt hydroelectric plant that is located in the home’s bathroom. A closet door in the bathroom allows access to the hydro plant, which is built into a 35 gallon plastic barrel buried below grade. The hydro powers incandescent lights in the house, a large color TV and VCR. To wash clothes he turns on a gasoline generator, but only because his battery bank is too small to store enough energy to make it through a load of wash. The man claims to have had great success with the installation, with the only maintenance being a new set of alternator brushes once every several years. He was particularly enthusiastic about hydroelectricity on the Yurok reservation, and after showing us his system he insisted on driving us up very steep, muddy, rutted roads to the upper reaches of Pecwan Creek where he shared his visions of working with NAREEP to install a "1 megawatt hydro" to sell power back to the utility.

3.1.2.2 Frustrated with Solar Electricity and Hydro

One man who was opposed to renewable energy electrification and in favor of a utility line extension for the reservation used his system as an example of the difficulties encountered with renewable energy. The system consisted of a 50 Watt solar electric panel, a small automotive alternator-driven microhydro, batteries and inverter. The owner was generally unhappy with the amount of maintenance required to keep the system operational, particularly the frequent cleaning required for the intake and pipes for the hydro. When we visited the hydro’s intake, we saw that he had indeed put an enormous amount of work into building it, but that unfortunately he had designed the hydro’s intake in a way that concentrated floating debris (wood chips, pine needles, etc.) rather than shedding it. Furthermore, the intake was built just below the output of a storm culvert. Not surprisingly, spring floods frequently washed away his intake structure. Using his own system as an case in point, he complained that renewable energy is an inferior energy source, only marginally better than kerosene for lighting. He thought that ideas of a Yurok-controlled renewable energy electrification project might look good on paper, but in reality would be likely to fail because, in his words, the Tribe lacks the capability to take on this type of project.

3.1.2.3 Satisfied with Solar Electricity, Despite Technical Problems

A retired logger who lives with his wife in Wautec installed four solar panels 50 feet up in a tree. These provide electricity for lights and a radio. At one time the system had a charge controller, but when it broke, he simply bypassed it. As a result he has had to replace batteries more often, and currently keeps a light on all day inside to "keep the batteries from overcharging". He proudly showed us his batteries and wires which were meticulously maintained. A 1.5 kW gasoline AC generator was used to charge the battery during cloudy periods, and to power his wife’s iron and hair dryer. Unfortunately we noticed that the man was using the diminutive 100 watt 12 Volt DC output from the generator to charge the battery. The 1.5 kW 120 VAC output could have powered a high current 12 VDC battery charger that would have enabled him to much more fully use the electricity generated by burning gasoline. This man had noticed that the generator was not charging his batteries sufficiently, and had recently purchased a $5,000 6.5 kW propane Kohler generator.

3.1.2.4 Renewable Energy Limitations for a Nursery

One of the only businesses on the upriver section of the reservation is a commercial nursery that sells plant starts and salsa to regional markets, and employs approximately ten Yuroks. The nursery currently uses solar electricity to power a 20 watt greenhouse fan in a germination greenhouse, and to power a radio telephone for business transactions. The greenhouse owner (an Anglo) would like to improve temperature control in his other greenhouses by adding fans and evaporative cooling. When installed in grid-connected greenhouses, these fans and evaporative coolers typically use motors 1 horsepower (746 Watts power output) or larger in size. Even one of these fans would require a solar electric system that would cost upwards of $4,000 in solar panels alone. Since the nursery has half a dozen greenhouses the only feasible option for stand-alone electricity is micro-hydro power. Fortunately there are a number of creeks nearby suitable for micro-hydropower.

3.1.2.5 Multiple Failures: The Head Start School Solar Electric System

The Head Start School in Cappell is a prefabricated building that was installed in the spring of 1995. The school’s electric system consists of the following components:

• 8 Siemen’s M75, 75 Watt solar panels

• A large battery pack of Trojan L-16 batteries

• 2 Trace SW4024 inverters wired in series ("stacked") so that they produce 8 kW at 240 Volts.

• A 4 kW diesel generator

The equipment was installed by no less than four separate contractors. One installed the solar panels and batteries, another installed one inverter, another installed the second inverter, and a fourth installed the generator. Unfortunately, no one carefully talked with the Head Start staff about the loads that the renewable energy system was to power. That this was not done is surprising. It is standard practice among (reputable) renewable energy installation companies to work with clients to first minimize loads, and only then design systems that can reliably power these loads. The standard inefficient refrigerator/freezer and the building’s office-building style lighting system alone would have led to an energy deficit and depleted batteries. But in addition, the Head Start staff installed two 8-foot tall industrial air conditioners (that were donated, perhaps from an energy efficiency retrofit job in the city). The compressors for each air conditioner drew up to 17 amps at 240 volts (4 kW). While the solar electric system is built to power loads as large as the air conditioners for brief periods of time, the system cannot come close to sustaining these loads continuously. As a result, the batteries quickly became sulfated. When a mouse ate the fuel line in the generator, the system became non-functional.

3.1.3 Causes of Problems with Existing Systems

Many of the problems identified in Chapter 2 with renewable energy electricity projects in developing countries seem to have occurred with the existing Yurok systems. Businesses focus on selling and installing equipment, because that is the most profitable. Installation companies have performed little maintenance – possibly because travel distances are high, and compensation is low. Neither have installation companies taken the time to train system users or other tribal people in system maintenance. Again, the structure of compensation – emphasizing payment for installation and equipment purchase – does not provide incentives for installers to take the time to coach users on ways to make the system last as long as possible. There may be disincentive for training: equipment failures from lack of maintenance may mean new installation jobs for the installer in the future. In addition, equipment installation and purchase is often covered by established organizations with large budgets and reliable payment procedures (the DOE, the Tribal Staff, Head Start, etc.). Homeowner-financed maintenance, on the other hand, may present higher transaction costs for installers since bills are smaller and more dispersed, and may be more difficult to collect.

When maintenance responsibilities fall on the home owner, (s)he often must weigh the benefits of maintenance against a litany of other demands on limited finances. System users rarely initially see the need for maintenance since the technology appears simple and generally works well when new. Only when there are system problems is maintenance requested – and at this point batteries and other components may need replacing instead of less expensive preventive maintenance. This trend is further supported by the Yurok’s existing familiarity with grid-connected lifestyles where electrical power is expected at the flick of a switch. Industrial electrified culture, to the extent that it has permeated the upriver Klamath section of the Yurok Reservation, has not prepared many Yuroks well for electricity systems that require maintenance and conservation.

Home-made systems have a set of problems all their own. While many of these systems receive abundant maintenance attention, many of the systems we saw had critical engineering flaws that severely limited their effectiveness. None of the parts per sewere bad, but they were often used in inappropriate ways, or combined in ways that jeopardized their effectiveness or longevity. For example, we saw several solar electric systems lacking charge controllers, and (as might be expected) heard complaints that these systems frequently require new batteries. One hydro electric system had a home-made intake structure that was poorly designed so that on the one hand it tended to collect debris, and on the other, was particularly vulnerable to floods. Another system clearly wastes considerable amounts of gasoline by using low-amperage 12 Volt output on a generator that is designed to produce significant power only for its 120 volt outlets. In another case, lighting, refrigeration, and air conditioning loads were inappropriately chosen, crippling a renewable energy system that would have provided equal or better energy services if efficient appliances had been chosen.

3.2 The Energy Trust Fund

The stakes for renewable energy and electrification on the Upriver were raised with the endowment of an Yurok Energy Trust Fund. In the late 1980s, Smith River Power Project Associates (SRPPA), an energy project developer, was interested in building a wood-fired power plant in Smith River, north of the reservation. The power plant was to generate electricity to sell to PG&E under PURPA (Public Utilities Regulatory Purchase Act), with a Standard Offer 4 contract, giving the developer 10-12¢ per kWh. The wood-fired plant, however, needed access to PG&E power lines near highway 101, and this access involved crossing Yurok lands. The project developer negotiated a multi-million dollar deal with the Yuroks allowing the power lines to cross their land. The project developer’s plans for the wood-fired power plant encountered difficulties when the Standard Offer 4 contracts were discontinued by PG&E, but the Yurok argued that they were still entitled to the money they had negotiated for. Eventually the local Public Utilities Commission (PUC) ruled in the Yurok’s favor, and they were granted a settlement of $2.5 million, $1.5 million of which they used to establish the Energy Trust Fund (Adams, pers. comm.). The purpose of this money was, "to be used exclusively for energy development on the unserved portions of the reservation" (Alternative Energy Development for the Yurok Reservation, 1995).

3.3 Electrification Planning Efforts On The Yurok

The news of the possible future existence of the fund attracted the attention of a variety of outside energy professionals. One company, Energy and Resources Consulting (ERC) approached the Tribe about electrifying the area with wind and/or solar in 1993, when the Yurok were still governed by the Transition Team. The consultants experienced a number of frustrations, and the lead consultant on the project eventually moved to Washington DC. While he valued his personal friendships with Yurok decision makers, the former ERC consultant said that ERC’s ability to work with the Yurok was hampered by the Transition Team’s limited administrative capacity and the large number of other important projects and decisions that were necessary in starting a tribal government. ERC’s work with the Yuroks involved discussing the formation of a public utilities district (PUD) to cover electricity as well as water and trash pickup. ERC also worked with the Yurok to find grants and other sources of funding to supplement the Energy Trust Fund (Adams, pers. comm.).

The Yurok also received technical planning and design assistance from the Renewable Energy Design Assistance Center (REDAC) at Sandia National Labs. REDAC agreed to help the Yurok to determine the cost effectiveness of various energy options, including construction of a utility line extension and alternative energy systems for each household. Their work would have included Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) to consider the energy needs of the Yurok as a whole. REDAC too left the project because the Yurok Energy Trust Fund was not established and there were insufficient funds available to justify REDAC’s continued participation (Adams, pers. comm.).

3.3.1 Yurok Alternative Energy Development Plan,1996

With the departure of ERC and REDAC, and changing tribal governments, the Yurok planning staff continued working on the electrification project – along with their other many duties. The document, "Alternative Energy Development Project for the Yurok Reservation" (Summer 1996) prepared by the Yurok Staff and approved by the Yurok Tribal Council lists a set of timelines, priorities, and a process for the electrification project.

• Phase 1 - Rehabilitation Phase: involves upgrading six houses that already have alternative energy systems. The systems already have generators, and either small marginally functional solar electric systems or micro hydro systems. (Summer 1996 – December 1996)

• Phase 2 - Customer and Community Surveys: "Complete survey of existing systems with objective of correcting deficiencies". (October – December 1995)

• Phase 3 - Planning for Unserved Households: Create a plan to "provide energy for the 15 or so tribal member households that are currently unserved (November 95 – June 96)

• Phase 4 - Master Planning and Implementation: "create an energy development map congruent with the General Land Use Plan (not in existence yet) for the Yurok Reservation. The plan will incorporate all alternatives for energy development, including extending the utility line along Highway 169 from Weitchpec to Wautec. (December 1995 – June 1998)

Currently Phase 1 is in progress with eight homes under "rehabilitation". Phase 2 is completed, and results from the questionnaire are quoted in this chapter. Phases 3 and 4 are in progress.

3.3.2 Needs Assessment and System Sizing

Phases 1, 2, and 3 of the Yurok’s plan for electrification all make reference to "upgrading, correcting deficiencies, and providing energy services". What the document does not do is determine the level of service that should be provided. To determine appropriate system size, renewable energy system design for private household systems usually begins with a needs assessment. The householder is asked to list the appliances the family will use, the electrical consumption of each appliance, and the number of hours per week the appliance is used. From this, a weekly power consumption estimate is calculated. Usually the process is an iterative one: when the household sees how much electricity is necessary to power their appliances, and the price they will have to pay for a renewable energy system to power these appliances, they lower their appliance consumption to a more affordable level.

The 1995 Energy questionnaire conducted by the Tribal Staff queried upriver residents on appliances they planned to buy in the future. For the 43 respondents, a washer and dryer were the most popular appliances (39 and 34 responses respectively), followed by blenders (21 responses), refrigerator (21 responses), water heater (7 responses), electric stove (6 responses), toaster (4 responses) and microwave (4 responses). The respondents also indicated that they currently use or plan to use drills (32 responses), circular saws (23 responses), and table saws (21 responses). Freezers, sewing machines, vacuum cleaners, and motion lights were also requested.

While these questionnaire results are useful for getting a broad sense of people’s expectations from the electrification project, they should not be used as inputs to an engineer’s system sizing calculations. Unlike the case with load surveys for systems purchased by private households, there is no incentive for households to economize on system size since the Tribe, rather than the individual, bears the cost of the system.

Equality in system sizing is an important criterion. No one on the upriver wants to feel that they did not get their fair share (Murguian, pers. comm.). Decisions about system sizing have as much to do with what the Tribe can afford to provide for each upriver tribal household as anything else.

3.4 The Current Round of Renewable Energy Installations

With these concerns not fully articulated, the Tribal Staff contacted Wes Edwards, a local renewable energy installer / dealer, to design a system that would serve as a "template" for other systems. The household chosen for the template was that of an elder woman whose main loads were a large TV, a washing machine, and lights. The Tribal Staff asked that this system be designed large enough to power all her loads with solar electricity. The contractor did as he was told and returned with a bid for $20,000. The Tribe balked at this estimate, and subsequently the contractor, NAREEP, and the Tribal Staff negotiated a system with fewer batteries and fewer solar panels that would cost roughly $12,000 per household (initial cost not including backup generator). The system would still power her loads, but that would require more use of the backup generator.

As of May 1997, five of these systems have been installed in selected houses. Initial costs vary from $12,000 to $18,000 depending on whether or not the house has an existing generator. The systems have been enthusiastically received, but there have been a few problems. One generator failed because the householder left her lights on too much, and some of the electronics for one of the systems were destroyed when the homeowner tried to connect old wires from one of the NCIDC solar electric systems into the new system.

As the electrification project moves forward, several issues will be particularly important:

1. The systems being installed are probably not be the least expensive way to provide the best energy services. (See Chapter 4)

2. Maintenance and homeowner training will need to be addressed – especially if the Tribe will be paying for other people’s mistakes.

3. Mechanisms are required to encourage users to pay for their electricity service, both to provide revenue for maintenance and incentives to treat the systems with care.

4. Conflicting interests and motivations of stakeholders in the electrification project will have to be addressed.

3.5 Stakeholders and Their Perspectives

The Yurok’s renewable energy project entails a mixture of cooperation and conflict. The history laid out so far emphasizes the elements of cooperation. But it is important to recognize that there are disagreements over how to best spend the money in the Energy Trust Fund, and about whether renewable energy is the best approach to take. Some conflicts are about "facts" – What are the costs and capabilities of different technology options? Will electrification of a particular type facilitate "development"? Others are about values – what kind of development is best for the reservation? Is economic development or tribal control more important? A third category of conflict is about interests – Who will get what benefits? Who will pay?

At the risk of over-generalizing, five groups can be delineated, each with recognizable motivations, concerns, and different voices in the decision making process. These five are the Tribal Council, the Tribal Staff, the Upriver Community Members, the Installer / Dealer, and Assistance Providers. Some people fit into more than one category, and some groups do not speak with a single voice. This description of "stakeholders" limits itself to asking what various groups want and why they want it. It does not attempt to answer howgroups act to meet their objectives with regards to the electrification project. At this point I do not feel I understand the inner workings of Yurok Tribal politics well enough to begin to answer the howquestion.

3.5.1 The Tribal Council

The Tribal Council is the governing body of the Tribe. It is an elected group of nine members, consisting of a Tribal Chair and Vice chair elected at large, and seven Council Members elected on a District basis. The upriver section of the reservation (the site of the electrification project) represents two districts: Weitchpec and Pecwan. Since the reservation population is less than 1,000, a council member’s constituency may consist of literally a few dozen households. The Tribal Council is particularly sensitive to the needs of tribal elders, of which there are many on the upriver section of the reservation. Any electrification option, therefore, must provide reliable, safe power for these elders. The Tribal Council is also concerned about the ultimate cost of the project, and the time frame. They feel pressure from constituents who complain about waiting years for electricity and are eager to show results on the project. They would like to see the project happen sooner rather than later, and at low cost to preserve the Energy Fund for meeting other energy needs such as providing energy efficiency assistance to reservation homeowners.

The Tribal Council is split with regards to electrification options, with one member strongly advocating a utility line extension, and most generally favoring renewable energy electrification.

3.5.1.1 Opposition to Renewable Energy

Sidney Nix, the Council member opposed to renewable energy lives with a solar electric system himself. He is disappointed with the maintenance required and the relatively small amount of power it provides. He argues that a line extension is "real electricity", and it will bring "real economic development" to the area.

In his opinion, the Tribe’s experience with renewable energy has been poor, and he describes renewable energy systems as playthings, insufficient for the kind of infrastructure development he would like to see for the people living on the upriver Klamath.

"We’re a new Tribe. We’re building. We want to put in infrastructure. If you go with alternative energy, it’s nice for someone to camp, but you can’t have buildings like this one (pointing at the walls of the Tribal offices in downtown Eureka). If we don’t build, we will be like another Third World country." – Sid Nix

Sid Nix says, "You can’t force alternative energy." He sees outsiders encouraging the Tribe to use renewable energy for electrification, but notices that they are unwilling to use renewable energy systems themselves because they are already connected to the utility grid, and perhaps because they are unwilling to limit their consumption to levels that home-scale renewable energy systems can provide.

Nix and a several of his constituents do not believe the whole upriver section of the reservation should be connected to the grid. Rather they believe that the first seven miles (in which their district lies) should be connected. They point out that this first seven miles has a greater abundance of flat land. They believe that this flat land, with power brought to it, will attract a significant number of Yuroks who currently live off the reservation to return.

3.5.1.2 In Support of Renewable Energy

Others on the Tribal Council are in favor of stand-alone renewable energy systems and opposed to a line extension. Their main argument is that renewable energy systems allow tribal control over electricity. By choosing who receives Tribal renewable energy systems and who does not, the Tribe can provide incentives for tribal members to return to the reservation, while providing no such incentive to non-Yuroks. They also feel that tribal ownership of energy production will enhance tribal autonomy, and keep money on the reservation that would otherwise leave in the form of utility bills (Meyers and Goosby, pers. comm.).

3.5.2 Tribal Staff

The Tribal Staff is hired, not elected, and is responsible for implementing Tribal Council policy and administering programs. Yuroks and Anglos play key roles as planners and administrators on the staff. The Staff plays a large role in deciding the future shape of the electrification project by proposing specific projects, budgets, and time lines that the Tribal Council votes on. The Tribal Staff is in favor of renewable energy options, using similar arguments about the benefits of tribal control. They also see renewable energy as a tool that can be used in land use planning. Currently, the Staff is frustrated by some tribal members that move into the upriver section of the reservation and set up trailers on reservation land without regard for the government’s land use priorities. By controlling the conditions under which subsidized power is available, the Tribal Staff is better able to control who builds where. Renewable energy becomes an instrument to use in helping to enforce a (not yet created) land use plan. The Staff sees stand-alone renewable energy systems as an integral part of a "model development plan" for the area, emphasizing distributed housing, and community water and energy systems. Renewable energy is a key component in a long-term vision of ecological and sustainable development for the reservation that can serve as a model for other Tribes and the world.

Zef Murguian, Tribal Planner, acknowledges that the Tribe’s previous experience with renewable energy has been poor, but argues that this is because the technology was archaic. In describing the reasons for previous bad experiences with renewable energy, he said,

"The systems were woefully under-powered. They were older technology, and trickier to keep running smoothly. More maintenance was required than was given. The systems were basically designed to run lights and people adapted them to do much more than that, but the systems couldn’t survive it."

3.5.3 Upriver Community Members

The people who live on the upriver are interested in the services that electricity provides. They want to be able to run lights at night, power washing machines, and watch TV. As we learned in a community meeting, these needs vary with individuals. Some have relatively modest needs: lights at night, occasional power tools, and a VCR. Others would like fully equipped households with laundry facilities, a microwave, and dishwasher. As discussed earlier in this chapter, the upriver reservation community has mixed experiences with their own renewable energy systems. Though not as inclined as the Tribal Staff to talk of renewable energy in terms of an overall vision of development for the area, they state a preference for renewable energy systems. In the questionnaire carried out by the Tribal Staff, only 7 of 43 respondents said they would be in favor of extending the PG&E line from Weitchpec (where it currently ends) to the community of Wautec (27 were opposed and 9 gave no response). Community meeting attendees were concerned about the changes to their community that they predicted would come with a utility line, such as more people moving in and the area "filling up". They also said they would rather see their money for bills go to pay tribal enterprises rather than PG&E.

On the question of who should own the systems installed as a result of the energy development project, the results were mixed with 18 choosing "homeowner", 7 choosing "the Tribe", and 15 choosing the "Yurok Public Utilities District" (3 no response). Regarding system maintenance, the responses favored shifting the burden to the Tribe, with only 10 answering that the homeowner should be responsible for maintenance, while 14 said the Tribe should be responsible, and 14 said the Yurok PUD should perform maintenance. The results show that people are split on whether they would like the Tribe to own and maintain the systems, or whether this should be done by the users. This is in contrast to the position of the Tribal Staff that unequivocally opts for tribal (or Yurok PUD) ownership and control.

3.5.4 Installer / Dealer: Wesco Electric

Wes Edwards is the proprietor of Wesco Electric. Wesco Electric is a small renewable energy business with a good reputation, located three hour’s drive from the reservation in Redway, California. Edward’s role so far has been to propose bids for individual systems for eight specific Yurok households, and then to install these systems. In general, Wes Edwards thinks in terms of providing systems for individual homes since this is the standard for the industry. His customers are generally families and individuals who either choose renewable energy for ideological reasons, or because it is the least expensive energy source for their remote home. In either case, there are few possibilities for considering the needs of several nearby houses simultaneously, much less the energy needs of a clustered community. Perhaps more to the point, the Edwards was not really given the luxury (or did not take the opportunity) of considering village-scale solutions to the Yurok’s energy needs, since he was asked to produce bids for systems for half a dozen isolated homes.

To the extent that the Edwards focuses on residential home-sized systems, he is interested in installing large systems. There are two reasons for this. First, he wants to have satisfied customers, and larger systems provide more electricity. Large systems may also require less frequent maintenance (See Chapter 4). Since the Installer / Dealer’s revenues depend on the amount of equipment he sells, he also has a direct incentive to sell large systems, though this incentive is probably secondary to the incentive to do quality work and to build a constructive business relationship with the Yurok Tribe.

3.5.5 Assistance Providers

As a technical assistance provider, NAREEP arrives with our own agenda. This agenda probably differs from those of previous groups in this role: consulting firms and National Laboratories. I believe there are better ways to approach electrification of the upriver the current expensive home-scale systems being installed, and that any renewable energy electrification effort will fail unless the decisions and implementation involve the community members for whom the project will serve. In writing this paper, I hope that clarifying the needs of the different participants in the electrification project will help the Tribe move forward with a project that works for best for everyone. With regard to the technical assistance I have helped provide, I believe that the Tribe’s decision-making process is currently limited in part by lack of information about costs and viabilities of different technology options. Much of this technical information is contained in Chapters 4 and 5.

4. Economic Assessment of Electrification Options

At the time NAREEP entered the discussion, there were two options proposed for electrification. The first option involved home-power renewable energy systems proposed by the local renewable energy installer that were initially bid at approximately $20,000 per system, and later reduced to between $12,000 and $18,000 (initial costs) per home. The second option was the utility line extension initially estimated at $13.40 per foot. It was clear that the Tribe’s ability to make decisions regarding electrification choice would be improved if there was information available on the long-term costs of these options. It was also clear that there might be other options to consider. To help clarify the choices available and establish a quantitative basis for decision making, I created the "Yurok Electrification Cost Comparison Spreadsheet". This chapter presents an explanation of the spreadsheet assumptions and results, and provides a discussion of the various technology options. It was presented to members of the Tribal Staff and Tribal Council in March 1997.

4.1 Yurok Electrification Cost Comparison Spreadsheet: Executive Summary

The "Yurok Elec. Cost Comparison" spreadsheet is a tool to evaluate eight options for electrification for the upriver Klamath. These options are presented in order of increasing level of service provided. The lowest level of service is from a generator-only system (noisy, intermittent power). Several solar electric systems of increasing size and expense range from "low" to "medium/high service". The "Yurok Phase 1 PV" system is the system that the Tribe has recently had installed in five homes on the upriver reservation. Smaller, less expensive PV systems that have been successful on the Hopi and Los Coyotes reservation were included in the model. Two village-scale hydroelectric systems provide higher levels of service, and finally, electricity line extensions provide power essentially limited by people’s ability or willingness to pay utility bills.