15
This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.
Table 9. Fifteen Tribal Lands with the Highest Technical Potential for Concentrating Solar Power
Electricity Generation
Tribal Area State
Net
Generation
(MWh)
Capacity
(MW)
Available
Land Area
(km
2
)
Navajo Arizona 1,953,959,322 462,886 23,806
Kiowa-Comanche-Apache-Fort
Sill Apache OTSA Oklahoma 830,492,318 262,618 13,506
Cheyenne-Arapaho OTSA Oklahoma 807,778,806 255,435 13,137
Tohono O'odham Arizona 686,027,362 161,827 8,323
Chickasaw OTSA Oklahoma 559,018,460 176,773 9,091
Hopi Arizona 259,499,142 60,227 3,097
Pine Ridge South Dakota 235,508,182 74,472 3,830
Uintah and Ouray Utah 199,351,312 52,982 2,725
Navajo Off-Reservation Trust
Land Arizona 175,386,888 42,047 2,162
Wind River Wyoming 132,807,983 41,268 2,122
Cheyenne River South Dakota 129,875,385 41,069 2,112
Rosebud South Dakota 109,666,172 34,679 1,783
Gila River Arizona 97,322,280 23,332 1,200
Caddo-Wichita-Delaware
OTSA Oklahoma 77,964,977 24,654 1,268
Citizen Potawatomi-Absentee
Shawnee OTSA Oklahoma 72,205,787 22,833 1,174
Biomass
Various biomass resources are available in the United States that are processed into electricity,
heat, fuels, and chemicals. These resources include (1) lignocellulosic material (plant biomass
that is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) such as woody biomass and crop
residues; (2) lipids such as vegetable oils, waste oils, and animal fats; (3) sugar or starch-based
crops; and (4) wet organic waste such as wastewater sludge, food waste, and animal manure.
This study focuses on estimating the power generation potential from woody biomass and biogas
(from wet organic waste) on tribal lands. Woody biomass is the main resource used for biopower
generation in the United States, while the use of agricultural crop residues is insignificant
(Warner et al. 2017). Biogas potential is examined because of its rising capacity in recent years:
landfill gas supplied approximately 18% of total U.S. biopower generation in 2015, an increase
from 9.5% in 2003 (Warner et al. 2017).
The focus of this analysis is on dedicated, utility-scale biopower potential from woody biomass
and distributed biogas potential. For additional analysis, future work may estimate the heat
generation potential from biomass (e.g., pellets production) because those applications are better
suited for on-site feasibility studies in which local resources and market conditions can be
examined in more detail. Future work may also investigate the combined heat and power