Federal government opens 50,000,000 dollars in funding for tribes to build energy projects, but never names wind

Federal funding for tribes to build energy projects

The Department of Energy has opened 50,000,000 dollars in federal funding for tribes to build energy projects on their own land, through a notice of funding opportunity, the formal process a federal agency uses to invite applications for a pool of money. Indian tribes, Alaska Native regional and village corporations, tribal energy organizations, and tribal colleges and universities can apply, alone or as a group, before the deadline, July 24, 2026, at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The notice splits the money into 3 topic areas. Up to 7,500,000 dollars per project pays to build and install a finished energy system, and requires the tribe to cover 10% of the cost itself. Up to 1,500,000 dollars pays for planning and feasibility work on a single community project, with no required cost share. Up to 2,500,000 dollars pays for planning and feasibility work on a larger, multi community project, also with no required cost share.

How long tribes get to spend it

Each topic area also comes with its own project length. Construction and installation projects get 24 to 48 months to finish. Both kinds of planning and feasibility studies get 12 to 48 months, according to the fact sheet.

The technology list that never says wind

The notice does not list which technologies qualify anywhere in its own text, a gap that becomes visible once the people running it start naming examples. Eric Mahroum, director of the Office of Indian Energy, described what the money could fund at the announcement in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 25, 2026.

This can be small scale, large scale, critical minerals, data centers, oil and gas, geothermal, nuclear—you name it.

Eric Mahroum, director of the Office of Indian Energy. Source 4.

Wind is absent from that list, and so is solar. The notice gives 1 example project, described by source 5, powering a remote tribal village with no connection to the regular power grid using diesel or gas generators, geothermal energy, hydrokinetic power, which generates electricity from moving water, or a hybrid system, paired with battery storage. It also names a combined heat and power system, which reuses waste heat to cut how much grid electricity a building needs, and a biomass boiler, which burns organic material for heat and power. None of those examples is wind either.

Open to an expansive set of technologies, on paper

The fact sheet the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs published for the notice states the notice is "open to an expansive set of technologies and approaches," a phrase that technically leaves wind eligible. But across that fact sheet, the press release announcing the funding, the program office landing page, and the notice text quoted by 2 news outlets, wind is named 0 times. 1 factor the notice uses to pick winning projects, quoted directly from the notice text by source 5, is "the degree to which the proposed project will support the supply of firm, reliable power," a standard any technology could in principle meet.

What this replaces

This notice follows the cancellation of Solar for All, a 7,000,000,000 dollar federal program of which more than 500,000,000 dollars had been set aside for solar development on tribal land specifically. That cancelled tribal solar amount is about 10 times the size of the entire new notice, since 500,000,000 divided by 50,000,000 equals 10, and the new 50,000,000 dollars now has to cover every technology it allows, not solar alone. Divided by the largest topic area maximum award, 7,500,000 dollars, the pool could fund at most 6 full sized construction projects, with 2,000,000 dollars left over, since 50,000,000 divided by 7,500,000 equals 6.67.