For some Navajo Nation families, power in the home is a luxury – not a given. Fort Lewis College’s Village Aid Project Solar Initiative is trying to change that.
Students, alumni and faculty – under the leadership of Professor Laurie Williams and first-generation FLC graduate and Diné engineer Camille Keith – have completed 15 solar installations across Navajo Nation land since 2023, according to a news release from the college.
According to Williams, almost a third of the homes on the Navajo Nation – nearly 11,000 – don’t have access to electricity.
Installing residential, off-grid photovoltaic solar systems is an in-depth process, Keith said.
FLC students and volunteers create in-house designs on campus, including fabricating components then taking those parts to the rural areas being served, where the systems are assembled, and homeowners are educated on how to self-service the new systems.
Williams called the installations “life-changing” for Navajo Nation community members who previously did not have power in their homes.
“There are elders out there that have medical needs, where they may have medicines that need to be refrigerated. Or they’re on oxygen, but because they don’t have electricity, they’re not able to stay at home,” Williams said. “Now they’ve been able to return and live where they want to live.”
Some of the homes have belonged to families of FLC students. One such student personally approached Williams to thank her for bringing power to his mother’s house, she said.
“I didn't realize that the one of the sons was a Fort Lewis student,” Williams said. “After the system was installed, he sought me out to tell me how grateful his mom was, and I was like, ‘Oh – I didn't realize you were from a home where you had no running water or electricity.’”
The AES Corp., along with Marathon Petroleum, have invested in the program, according to a news release. AES increased its $45,000 contribution to $80,000 this year, and Marathon Petroleum supported Keith with “philanthropic gifts, materials, and an on-the-ground fabrication,” the release said.
Keith was brought into the project while she was still an engineering student at Fort Lewis College. She had an interest in solar work.
“I'm a first-generation student, and what the culture instills in us is, ‘don't forget where you come from, and make sure you come back and help as much as possible,’” Keith said. “I feel like that has been one of the prayers that (older generations) always prayed for: for us younger generations to get our education so we can help our nations and help our home – the U.S. I feel like this project has been fulfilling in that way.”
Volunteers camp on Keith’s grandparent’s property in Shonto while doing the installations, Keith said.
The initiative not only installs photovoltaic systems, but also builds local capacity, fosters valuable mentorship and cultivates and upholds Indigenous leadership and energy justice, according to the college.
“It's a really powerful hands-on student engagement opportunity,” Williams said. “(Students) get to see how they can make a difference in somebody's life – someone that's just a couple hours from here, living such a different reality than they are – and I think that's very eye-opening for them.”
Keith said students with connections to the land and the culture have also benefited through feeling further connected to their roots.
Building trust is an important part of working with Navajo Nation communities, Williams and Keith said.
The Solar Initiative team signed resolution approved by tribal leadership in the area where solar installations have been taking place, which followed a year of attending tribal meetings and gaining trust from the communities the team planned to serve, Williams said.
“Somebody told me that partnerships happen at the pace of trust,” she said. “This is a partnership that’s been slowly growing, but it’s happening at the same pace that trust from the communities is growing.”
The Solar Initiative serves one of the 113 Navajo Nation chapters, Keith said, with an intention to expand further in the future.
Plans for the 2025-26 academic year include bringing power to around 10 homes, Williams said – but the hope is that this is just the beginning.
“My ability to to tackle 10 a year is not huge, but if I’m also educating and inspiring our students to go on and continue this work, I hope that multiplies tenfold,” she said.
epond@durangoherald.com
