Salt River Project Powers 13 Remote Homes in Navajo Nation Through Annual Initiative
Crews from the Salt River Project (SRP), a community-based organization, recently connected 13 families in the western Navajo Nation to electricity through its Light Up Navajo VII initiative. SRP was able to do this in coordination with the American Public Power Association (APPA) and Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), which aims to help bring electricity to roughly 10,000 Navajo Nation families that lack access.
According to an issued SRP press release, crew members from 53 utility companies across 24 states worked more than 3,700 combined hours over two weeks through this initiative that runs from April to August. This included help from 19 employees within SRP’s network to support extending electricity to at least 300 homes by the end of August. Some of the families, the American Public Power Association stated, would be receiving electricity for the first time.
SPR crews reportedly assisted in the installation of 108 primary poles, 25 secondary poles, and 10 transformers, along with stringing 91,866 feet of wire. SRP lineman Thomas Gerbig explained that digging a single pole hole during this project took nearly an hour, compared to doing so in the city, which would take about 15 minutes.
“This year, we worked in very different terrain with sand almost everywhere,” Gerbig shared in a statement about his experience. “I would come back every year to work on this project. The physical and weather challenges we face don’t compare to seeing the smile of someone turning on a light in their home for the first time.”
An estimated 9,377 of the 55,000 homes within the Navajo Nation region, which spans across northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah, do not have electricity, the APPA highlighted. That represents roughly 70% U.S. households without power in comparison.
SRP crews are reportedly scheduled to continue connecting more homes to the electric grid this fall. So far, the not-for-profit organization claims to have installed more than 1,000 wood poles, 100 transformers, and strung 600,000 feet of wire to provide 159 area families for the first time with reliable power.
