by Ken Bradley, senior policy associate, Fresh Energy

On June 15, the first ever World Clean Energy Awards were presented at a ceremony in Basel, Switzerland. The Intertribal Council on Utility Policy (COUP) received the “Special Award for Courage” for their work establishing the first commercial wind power generation on a reservation in Rosebud, South Dakota. Patrick Spears, president of COUP and Fresh Energy board member, accepted the award, saying, “We are honored and humbled for the selection by such a distinguished juried panel of people who are knowledgeable in their field for sustainable development.”

The 750-kilowatt turbine is the first project in a five-phase, 3,000-megawatt plan for wind development on tribal lands. (One megawatt is enough electricity to power about 1,000 homes.) The second phase is expected to be completed by 2008 and will produce 30 to 50 megawatts of electricity from wind on the Rosebud Reservation.

One way to support the development of renewable energy projects on tribal lands is to buy green tags. Green tags represent an investment in renewable energy projects, displacing fossil fuels. You can offset one ton of global warming pollution for $12 through COUP’s NativeEnergy.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 11:53 am by Fresh Energy and is filed under Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.