Anchorage, Alaska
Cook Inlet Housing Authority seeks funding to install a rooftop 24.8 kW solar photovoltaic array on its tribal administrative headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska.
The largest tribal housing authority in the state, CIHA aims to provide statewide leadership in promoting alternative energy systems and technologies for northern tribal communities while directing energy cost savings to affordable housing and economic empowerment programs that serve thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native individuals. The Qak’di’un (“it is sunny” in Dena’ina) project will offset CIHA’s electrical costs at its administrative headquarters by 11 percent and result in cost savings over 30 years of $177,715. Through partnerships, the project will advance workforce development for AI/AN workers, solar energy education for first-time AI/AN homebuyers through CIHA’s Community Development Financial Institution subsidiary (Cook Inlet Lending Center), and information-sharing workshops with other state tribal housing authority leaders through the Alaska Association of Housing Authorities.