Impact Spotlight
Training and certifying 48 Hopi solar installers, building a local clean energy workforce
Installs 13 on-grid solar systems and the first 35 of up to 200 off-grid home solar-plus-battery systems on the Hopi reservation
Builds a microgrid to improve grid reliability for more than 4,000 people and extend access 12 additional miles
About
Across the Hopi Reservation in northern Arizona, access to reliable electricity remains uneven. Hopi planning documents have found that electrical infrastructure is concentrated primarily along the Highway 264 corridor, leaving many homes outside established village centers without grid access. Federal energy programs estimate that roughly 35% of Hopi households remain unelectrified, while grid-connected families also experience reliability challenges.
Hopi Utilities Corporation (HUC) is a tribally chartered corporation wholly owned by the Hopi Tribe. Established by the Hopi Tribal Council in 2017, HUC has authority to own, manage, and operate water and electric systems across the Reservation. Its work today includes household solar and battery systems, utility-scale solar and microgrids, water infrastructure, and workforce development—all supporting the Tribe’s longer-term goal of greater ownership and control over the infrastructure serving Hopi communities.
HUC's current work centers on three major areas: providing household solar and solar-battery systems; building microgrids to increase the reliability of grid-connected electricity and serve off-grid locations; and building out electric grids and battery storage for new development.
“The project is vital to our community. It brings much needed water to Moenkopi Village residents and is powered by renewable energy. Low water availability has limited growth in Moenkopi. With this new source of water we will be able to provide new housing opportunities, enable economic development, and expand water availability for our people. This will help sustain our people and create a better future for our children. I’m very happy to support this project on behalf of our people.”
HF Partnership
In 2000, the Hopi Tribal Government adopted a community-driven framework, developed through extensive consultation across Hopi villages, calling for five Planned Community Development Districts to support long-term, culturally grounded growth. As one of these districts, the Side Rock site outside Upper Moenkopi Village was designated as a cornerstone for future housing, economic activity, and public infrastructure, making reliable water development essential. The Tribe drilled two new water wells at Side Rock and built a transmission line connecting them to the Moenkopi villages, but the existing diesel-powered pumping system is already insufficient to meet current water demand in Upper and Lower Moenkopi.
With support from the Honnold Foundation combined with federal funding, HUC will replace the diesel pump with a solar-powered microgrid to power the two wells, significantly improving water reliability for approximately 235 residential and 14 non-residential customers and unlocking future growth at the Side Rock and Poosiwlenena Community Development Districts. The project reflects Hopi values of land stewardship and intergenerational responsibility, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 269 metric tons annually compared to diesel generation, while serving as a replicable model for integrating solar microgrids with water infrastructure and continuing the professionalization of HUC as a tribally owned, locally controlled utility.
In the News
