Training the Next Generation of Energy Sovereignty Warriors and Warriorettes

At the end of 2024, Dream.Org launched the Make It Real photojournalism series to highlight the challenges and triumphs of those fighting for a more sustainable and equitable future in the United States. We're collaborating on a series of TriplePundit articles to share these stories. This is one of several features centered on the climate leaders empowering Native communities to reclaim energy sovereignty while building resilience.

“We're honoring the old way with this new way,” said Chief Henry Red Cloud, founder of Red Cloud Renewable, a workforce development organization on the Pine Ridge Reservation in present-day South Dakota. Together with his son, John Red Cloud, he’s helping bring energy sovereignty to tribal nations through solar education, weatherization and sustainable building.

Students come from all over the Northern Plains and as far away as Alaska to learn to be roof-ready solar installers at Red Cloud Renewable’s training annex. The nonprofit works with 70 of the 574 federally-recognized tribes in the United States, and interest is on the rise. 

“Indigenous people have been honoring the sun for eons [through] language, culture, song and dance,” said Chief Red Cloud, who was recently recognized as a climate action leader in Dream.Org’s Make It Real Campaign. By embracing solar, Red Cloud Renewable is taking the old ways into the 21st century. In addition to creating a new way to celebrate the sun, the organization honors the old way by training the young generation to fight for sustainability and energy sovereignty. “We're creating a new breed of warriors and warriorettes,” he said.

Heritage and culture are central to the organization’s solar training. Courses open with traditional ceremonies and prayers, and all are taught by Indigenous instructors who use traditional language and storytelling to connect with their students. “We talk about the old ancestral ways and how solar fits in,” Chief Red Cloud said. 

Solar installations are expected to grow 6.6 percent each year through 2030, and the U.S. will need twice the current number of solar installers by 2033 to keep up with the demand, Forbes reports. Red Cloud Renewable is planning accordingly. For example, the center recently added the Bridging Renewable Industry Divides In Gender Equality (BRIDGE) program, designed to bolster the number of women in the industry.

Chief Red Cloud’s son, John, came up with the idea for BRIDGE after discovering that the number of Indigenous women working in solar installation is quite low, and a big reason why is the cost of childcare. He submitted the idea for solar training with wraparound services like childcare and housing for a grant from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, and last year it was awarded $1.5 million over 36 months. 

Red Cloud Renewable is doing good in plenty of other ways, too. Another example is its energy retrofitting program. The organization is finishing retrofitting and equipping 30 homes with photovoltaic systems, a project also funded by a Department of Energy grant, John Red Cloud said. And 200 more homes will receive energy audits and weatherization upgrades thanks to a partnership with the Oglala Lakota Housing Authority.

Going forward, Red Cloud Renewable has big expansion plans: a regional training facility situated on 160 acres on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Like the current facility, it will have student and instructor housing, office space, classrooms and a manufacturing area, Chief Henry Red Cloud said. But he also envisions an indoor training space for when the temperature drops. 

“Today, it's 1 degree,” he said. “You can't do any work outside. But if we could have a nice, big building where we can have a solar lab within there, we can continue with solar training year round.”

Funding is a persistent challenge for many nonprofits. Red Cloud Renewable is no different, but it won't let that prevent progress. “We have a saying here,” Chief Red Cloud said. “With money, we go forward. Without money, we go forward.”

While the organization does apply for and receive federal grants, Chief Red Cloud expressed concern that those funds may not be disbursed and future opportunities could disappear with the new administration in the White House. But he said he is hopeful that private individuals and philanthropists will increase their giving to make up for that.

“The vast majority of our support comes from general people across the globe. There are people who believe in the work that Red Cloud Renewable does in Switzerland and the Netherlands, who will send us gifts and say, ‘Thank you, Chief Henry, for the work that you do continuing to help your people,” he said. “And then locally, people … believe in our work, so they'll send us funds. But direct public support is our main source of income right now.”

Even when finances are tight, Chief Red Cloud knows the organization is making a difference in people’s lives. “I’m most proud of how we're able to create a workforce surrounding something that we already know, we already understand in a real deep sense,” he said. 

Graduates of the training programs exemplify that pride, two of whom — Charlee Rising Sun and Donica Brady — also appeared in the Dream.org Make It Real campaign for their leadership in bringing solar to their reservations. They’re proof that Red Cloud Renewable’s efforts are empowering economic success for Indigenous people and helping bring energy sovereignty to tribal nations.