Navajo Nation turns from coal to solar power, but continues mining

This January Arizona public utility Salt River Project issued a request for proposals for 400 MW of solar power, 200 MW of which had to be within Navajo Nation territory. That RFP has now been answered by sPower with Navajo Power, which in May formed an agreement aiming for the 200 MW portion in the Nation itself, and by Navajo Transitional Energy Company with Photosol US, who last week announced they are angling for the whole 400 MW. A court battle against Salt River Project (SRP) progressed earlier this month as the Center for Biological Diversity challenged the utility’s discriminatory rates, which were cranked up 60% in 2015 for residential solar customers, as the utility blamed higher costs upstream. Similar…