The California Energy Commission approved a $15,711,540 grant for the Hoopa Valley Critical Facilities Microgrid project at its June 22 business meeting, authorizing the executive director or designee to execute Agreement LDS-25-001, according to the commission’s meeting materials.
The award goes to Cal Poly Humboldt Sponsored Programs Foundation and would support a project on the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Reservation that pairs 5.2 MW of long-duration storage with 3.0 MW of solar PV, the materials say. The grant package identifies Hoopa Valley Public Utilities District as a subcontractor.
Commission staff described the project as a reliability and resiliency upgrade for the Hoopa Valley community, and the CEQA memo concluded the project is exempt under the common-sense exemption because it is located on tribal land and does not pose significant off-reservation impacts, according to the same filing.
The scope of work calls for engineering, permitting, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, operator training, measurement and verification, and knowledge-transfer work over a project term running from June 1, 2026, through March 31, 2030.
The project background in the commission record says the Hoopa 1101 circuit is among the least reliable in PG&E’s territory and cites prior outage-related hardships on the reservation, including food spoilage and the need for mobile generators at elders’ homes.
