SERC engineer Jim Zoellick demonstrates solar energy technologies for Yurok Tribe members.
The Yurok Tribe, with 5,000 members, is the largest Tribe in California. The Yurok Reservation is located along the banks of the Klamath River on California’s far North Coast. Since 1999, SERC has collaborated with the Yurok Tribe on a number of projects. These activities have helped the Tribe to move toward energy self-sufficiency while also providing great learning opportunities for Tribe members and HSU students. Working with the Yurok Tribe is one of the ways SERC contributes to the North Coast’s clean energy future.
SERC’s current collaboration with the Yurok Tribe is a Wind and Hydroelectric Feasibility Study. This project follows on the human capacity building and utility feasibility study projects carried out by SERC and the Tribe previously. SERC will work with the Tribe to install wind and stream flow monitoring equipment at selected sites on the Reservation. The collected data will help to determine the feasibility of installing energy generation systems at these locations. The study will also include environmental and economic analyses, identification of permitting requirements, and business plan development. SERC and the Tribe hope to follow up on the study by installing generating systems to provide power to homes on the Reservation and/or produce revenues to the Tribe from power sales to the grid.
SERC’s prior collaborations with the Yurok Tribe include:
