The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and three energy companies have signed a contract to maintain, manage and develop a microgrid energy plan for the reservation.
The goal, according to Tribal Chairman Bo Mazzetti is to “go green” more and more in the future. The big achievement for the tribe, according to the chairman, is that the tribe is always looking for ways to include more renewable and sustainable energy in their plans.
Rincon signed the contract with Bridge Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Bridge Investment Group Holdings Inc., Solaris Energy and Wattmore. They will build 1.8 MW of solar and storage projects across multiple facilities on the Rincon Reservation. This deal marks the completion of nearly three years of planning, designing, grant writing and finance modeling.
“We are very excited to move forward on this new project and are committed to providing renewable energy to our people, residents, and businesses on our reservation. Together with our new partners, we are building a cutting edge solar plus storage project to lower our carbon output, and decrease our monthly energy costs,” said Mazzetti.
“We are thrilled to have reached this milestone and are grateful for our partnership with the Rincon Tribe. We believe this project demonstrates the exceptional value that solar and energy storage projects can deliver to reservations, communities, and other commercial applications,” said Bridge Renewable Energy’s Adam Haughton.
Solaris Energy and Wattmore co-developed this project to combine incentives from the new federal Inflation Recovery Act signed into law in 2022 with State and federal grants, allowing maximization of the economics and impact for both the tribe and the investment partner Bridge Renewable Energy.
Wattmore’s CEO, Jonathan W. Postal (JW), said, “Energy storage paired with solar is the key to our clean energy future. This project is a great example of perseverance and commitment to bringing multiple types of technology together to drive carbon reduction and cost savings for a great customer.”
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians is a sovereign government recognized by the United States of America. The Tribe owns Harrah’s Resort Southern California and uses profits from this and other commercial enterprises to provide government services including tribal security and environmental enforcement; economic development; healthcare and culture programs.
Grown from non-profit roots, Solaris Energy is an employee-owned Colorado Public Benefit Cooperative and Certified B Corporation that provides experienced, value-driven commercial solar development, finance, and asset management services.
Wattmore specializes in AI-powered software tools and services to empower the green energy industry to scale bigger and faster.
Bridge Investment Group is a leading alternative investment manager, diversified across specialized asset classes, with approximately $48.0 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2024.
