The future of Native renewable energy might not be utility-scale. It might, instead, be 20 homes at a time.

Here’s what that might look like: A few houses on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation get power to make it through winter. Families on the Navajo Reservation switch on lights in homes that never had electricity. Elders in tribal housing see their energy bills cut in half. 

These smaller solar projects lack the scale and drama of multimillion-dollar installations, but they’re becoming the foundation of the Native energy transition — especially as federal support for renewable energy recedes under the Trump administration.

That’s according to Laura Staich, interim executive director at the All Points North Foundation, a grantmaking nonprofit based in Brookline, Mass. All Points North funds grants up to $100,000. Through partnerships with organizations like the energy nonprofit GRID Alternatives, All Points North has supported everything from small residential projects to workforce development efforts such as training and workshops. 

Those kinds of projects are “small but mighty,” Staich said, serving as important steps in any community’s energy transition. A single residential installation may not suddenly switch an entire community to solar, but for elders living in those homes, electric costs slashed by as much as 60 percent may mean the world. 

“We really view this as stepping stones. There’s a lot of great project work happening on a smaller scale, and what we like to do is shine light on those programs,” Staich said. “We work with one person, one project, one community at a time, and that all begins to add up.”  

Joe Ogrinc, director of solar projects at the All Points North Foundation, pointed to a recent partnership with nonprofit organization Heart of America to install solar panels on small homes meant for students and other low-income individuals. The project in question will eventually target 20 homes over the course of the year, providing residents with some battery storage, reduced electricity costs and a small refrigerator — crucial for people who traditionally don’t have easy access to grocery stores. 

Ogrinc said projects like those are often more doable for tribes or communities that can’t meet the requirements for bigger grant programs. Prior Tribal Business News reporting points to issues with pre-development costs, interconnectivity, matching funds and other barriers to entry that can stop a smaller tribe’s push for clean energy in its tracks. 

“The big swings — the multimillion-dollar grants — take a lot of effort. Oftentimes it’s a big swing and a big miss, because everybody’s going after those larger grants,” Ogrinc said. “When we go into a smaller grant, we can make an impact directly for people who can’t go for those bigger pools of funding.” 

Solar consultant Tim Willink made a career of small projects: Between 2015 and 2023, Willink worked with GRID Alternatives to install more than 120 kilowatts of solar energy generation on 33 homes across the Rosebud Sioux Reservation and the Sicangu Village in South Dakota, the Picuris and San Ildefenso pueblos in New Mexico and the Ojo Encino Chapter of the Navajo Nation. 

Along the way, Willink helped train tribal members on each reservation to work with and service their new equipment. In many cases, those smaller projects served as stepping stones toward bigger, more transformative work, he told Tribal Business News.

“I think that a lot of tribes that I worked with – they wanted to get into solar, they just didn’t know where to start,” Willink said. “Smaller projects really played a huge role in developing our initial partnerships with tribes — the vast majority of those tribes then wanted to scale up to larger projects.” 

Even smaller federal funding programs have been rescinded in the wake of a major policy shift under President Donald Trump’s administration, however. A push toward extractive energy, whether that’s through mining, oil, timber, or other sources, has seen federal enthusiasm for renewable energy dwindle or recede entirely, per prior Tribal Business News reporting.

Any single organization would struggle to meet the needs of projects that can top out at $75 million or more, that reporting states. Moreover, while organizations have pledged to turn to philanthropy to bridge new gaps in their energy funding, less than 0.5 percent of philanthropic dollars have been aimed at Native causes in recent years. In that climate, Willink said, looking for small projects to keep up momentum can be more important than ever. 

Organizations like GRID Alternatives, All Points North and Heart of America can provide support for those projects, with grants hovering in the lower $100,000 to $250,000 range. There are also Native-led, Native-centered organizations, like the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy or GRID Alternatives’ recently spun-off subsidiary, Tribal Energy Alternatives.

Whatever route tribes choose to take, Willink encourages them to get moving. 

“Right now, the important thing is getting things started, whether that’s with training programs or home installations — to start helping people how you can now,” he said. “Getting people trained now will mean you’re prepared for when that big opportunity does come along.”