| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 United States ( Nevada) | |
| Languages | |
| Southern Paiute, English |
The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians of the Moapa River Indian Reservation are a federally recognized tribe of Southern Paiute, who live in southern Nevada on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. They were in the past called the Muappa / Moapat [1] [2] and the Nuwuvi. [3]
The Moapa are adept at basketry. They traditionally wore clothing made of hide, yucca fibers, and cliff-rose bark cloth.
The Moapa practiced irrigation agriculture before contact with Europeans. [4] The Moapa traded with the Spanish in the later 18th and early 19th centuries who arrived here from California and Arizona, yet no missions were built in the area.
In 1869 the United States relocated by force the Southern Paiute to the Moapa area. Originally the entire Moapa River watershed and lands along the Colorado River (some of which area is now under Lake Mead) was assigned to the Moapa; however, in 1875 their reservation was reduced to 1,000 acres (400 ha).
They later suffered from decimation by disease in the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1941, they organized with a formal constitution. In 1980 the Moapa River reservation was expanded, with about 75,000 acres (30,000 ha) added. People on the reservation continue to suffer high rates of unemployment, and diabetes, resulting in some of the Moapa migrating to other parts of the country to find work.
The Moapa River Indian Reservation is located near Moapa Town, Nevada. Moapa River Indian Reservation consists of 71,954 acres (29,119 hectares). As of the census of 2010, the population was 238, up from 206 in 2000. [5]
The reservation is crossed from northeast to southwest by the I-15 highway. In the southeast, it is adjacent to Valley of Fire State Park. In particular, Exit 75 of the highway and the local road leading to the west park entrance (formerly Nevada 169, decommissioned in 2001), down to the entrance, belong to the reservation.[ citation needed ]
The reservation includes a 250 MW solar power generation facility known as Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project which generates enough energy to power 111,000 homes, displacing around 341,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. [6] Another solar farm Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm is being constructed in the reservation is a planned 300 MW solar project. [7]
In 2019, Paiutes agreed with Berkshire Hathaway's NV Energy about two solar and battery projects:
8minutenergy Renewables develops the Southern Bighorn Solar & Storage Center with a 300 MWac solar array and 540 MWh (4 hours of 135 MW) storage. [8]
EDF Renouvelables constructs the Arrow Canyon Solar Project with 200 MWac solar array and 375 MWh (5 hours of 75 MW) storage, operational by 2023. [9]
The Southern Paiute people are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory and have been granted federal recognition on several reservations. Southern Paiute's traditionally spoke Colorado River Numic, which is now a critically endangered language of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family, and is mutually intelligible with Ute. The term Paiute comes from paa and refers to their preference for living near water sources. Before European colonization, they practiced springtime, floodplain farming with reservoirs and irrigation ditches for corn, squash, melons, gourds, sunflowers, beans, and wheat.
NV Energy is a public utility which generates, transmits and distributes electric service in northern and southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley, and provides natural gas service in the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area of northern Nevada. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, it serves about 1.3 million customers and over 40 million tourists annually.
The Solana Generating Station is a solar power plant near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Phoenix. It was completed in 2013. When commissioned, it was the largest parabolic trough plant in the world, and the first U.S. solar plant with molten salt thermal energy storage. Built by the Spanish company Abengoa Solar, the project can produce up to 280 megawatts (MW) gross, supplied by two 140 MW gross (125 MW net) steam turbine generators: enough electricity to meet the needs of approximately 70,000 homes and obviate the emission of roughly 475,000 tons of CO2 every year. Its name is the Spanish term for "sunny spot".
Solar power in Nevada is growing due to a Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires 50% renewable energy by 2030. The state has abundant open land areas and some of the best solar potential in the country.
EDF Renewables is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French utility EDF Group, specializing in renewable energy production. As an integrated operator, the Group develops and finances the construction of renewable energy facilities, and manages operations and maintenance for its own account and for third parties.
The energy sector in Hawaii has rapidly adopted solar power due to the high costs of electricity, and good solar resources, and has one of the highest per capita rates of solar power in the United States. Hawaii's imported energy costs, mostly for imported petroleum and coal, are three to four times higher than the mainland, so Hawaii has motivation to become one of the highest users of solar energy. Hawaii was the first state in the United States to reach grid parity for photovoltaics. Its tropical location provides abundant ambient energy.
Thomas Norton Tureen is an American lawyer, investment banker and entrepreneur known for his work with American Indian tribes. While an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund he pioneered the use of the Nonintercourse Act to obtain return of tribal lands lost 180 years earlier and federal recognition for previously non-federally recognized tribes. Tureen successfully litigated Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton (1975), which established that the federal government has a trust responsibility to protect the land of all tribes, including those not previously recognized, and that all tribes are entitled to the benefits and immunities associated with federal recognition. Between 1972 and 1983 he was lead counsel in cases that obtained federal recognition for and achieved the return of over 300,000 acres to five New England tribes. He helped the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, now one of the most successful gaming operators in the U.S., obtain federal recognition in 1984 pursuant to regulations adopted by the Department of the Interior in response to the Passamaquoddy decision. His work on behalf of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe in Connecticut led to the creation of the Foxwoods Resort Casino, which was the largest casino in the world when opened. And he arranged the acquisition of Dragon Cement, New England's only cement producer, by the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and Phoenix Cement by the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, ; originated 250 MW Moapa Solar, the first utility scale solar project in Indian Country, and originated a partnership controlled by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians that became the first tribal participating transmission owner in the U.S. and the Native American Finance Officers Association (NAFOA) 2023 Impact Deal of the Year.
The Agua Caliente Solar Project is a 290 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station, built in Yuma County, Arizona using 5.2 million cadmium telluride modules made by the U.S. thin-film manufacturer First Solar. It was the largest solar facility in the world when the project was commissioned in April 2014.
Reid Gardner Generating Station was a 557 megawatt coal fired plant on 480 acres (190 ha) located near Moapa, Nevada. It was co-owned by NV Energy (69%) and California Department of Water Resources (31%). The plant consisted of four units. The first three were 100 MW units and were placed into service in 1965, 1968 and 1976. The fourth unit placed into service in 1983 produced 257 megawatts (345,000 hp). Three units of Reid Gardner were shut down in 2014; the fourth went in March 2017. The demolition of the plant was completed in 2019.
The Silver State South Solar Project is a 250 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant located in Clark County, Nevada, and near the previously completed 50 MWAC Silver State North Solar Project and the 530 MW gas-fired Higgins Generating Station. The project was completed in late 2016 and was constructed by subcontractors for First Solar. The plant is owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, and power is being sold to Southern California Edison.
Apex Solar is a 154-acre (62 ha) 20 MWac photovoltaic solar power facility located entirely on private land within the Apex Industrial Park in the City of North Las Vegas, Nevada. The plant is connected to the local grid via an existing 69kV transmission line owned by NV Energy.
Mount Signal Solar, also known as Imperial Valley Solar Project, is a 794 MWp (614 MWAC) photovoltaic power station west of Calexico, California, United States, in the southern Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border. The facility was developed and constructed by 8minutenergy Renewables in three phases, with two completed as of 2018, and the third in 2020. It is one of the world's largest PV solar farms with a capacity of about 800 MWp (600 MWAC). The project has been supported by several environmental groups, as the power station was built on low-productivity farmland.
The Boulder Solar project is a 150 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station near Boulder City, Nevada. It was built in two phases by SunPower using its Oasis Power Plant system. The project is co-located with several other large solar power projects in the Eldorado Valley.
Desert Stateline Solar Facility is a 300 MWp utility-scale solar photovoltaic power station constructed by First Solar in San Bernardino County in California, USA. It is located at the base of Clark Mountain in California, across the state line from Primm, Nevada, and adjacent to the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility.
The Beacon Solar Project is a photovoltaic power station in the northwestern Mojave Desert, near California City in eastern Kern County, California. Split into five phases, the combined Beacon solar facilities generate 250 MW of renewable energy for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). The five phases of the project, fully completed in December 2017, include a total of 903,434 individual solar photovoltaic modules, mounted onto Nextracker single-axis tracking systems.
Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm is a planned 420 MWp (300 MWAC) photovoltaic power station north of Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. The facility is being developed by 8minutenergy Renewables and when completed will be the largest photovoltaic system on tribal lands in North America. It is also the largest component within NV Energy's current tranche of renewable energy projects that will create over 1 Gigawatt of new electricity supply.
Avantus, formerly known as 8minute Solar Energy, is an American photovoltaic (PV) developer of utility-scale PV power plants and energy storage. Founded in 2009 by Tom Buttgenbach and Martin Hermann, it was acquired by KKR fifteen years later.
The Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project is a 250 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant located in Clark County, Nevada on the Moapa River lands of the Southern Paiute people. The project was commissioned in March 2017 and was constructed by First Solar and its sub-contractors in close consultation with the Moapa Band of Paiutes and federal agencies. It is the first utility-scale solar project to be located on North American tribal lands, and is anticipated to evolve as a model for similar future economic and environmental partnerships.
The Techren Solar Project is a 400 megawatt (MWAC) solar photovoltaic power plant near Boulder City, Nevada. Electricity production began with completion of the two building phases in 2019–2020. The project is co-located with several other large solar power projects in the Eldorado Valley.
