Abstract
Despite holding nearly 8% of the United States’ wind energy potential, only one utility scale wind farm exists on Native American lands. Several barriers hindering tribes’ capacity to harness their lands’ wind potential have been identified, including federal bureaucratic inefficiencies, tribes’ difficulties securing financing, their inability to capitalize on the Federal Production Tax Credit, and tribes’ internal administrative disagreements. Few studies have explored, in depth, how these barriers impact the steps of the wind energy development process, such as understanding the wind resource, project permitting, transmission, securing a power buyer, and financing. This study presents a comparative analysis framework exploring how barriers to wind development influenced two projects: the unsuccessful Rosebud Sioux North Antelope Highlands Wind Project and the ongoing Oceti Sakowin Power Authority (OSPA) project. The study finds that the OSPA, although reliant on finding a buyer for its generated electricity and the continuation of the Production Tax Credit, has created a novel ownership structure and development strategy capable of success despite pre-existing barriers. These findings further the scholarship regarding barriers to wind energy development on tribal lands, going beyond understanding what factors limit development to illustrate strategies tribes can employ to overcome the aforementioned barriers on a procedural level. The strategic changes made by the OSPA can hopefully be utilized by future tribal projects to enable tribal wind energy development despite existing barriers. On a broader scale, this study emphasizes that while barriers to wind energy development still must be addressed, it is possible for tribes to bring affordable, sustainable energy and economic opportunity to their community through wind energy despite these challenges.