The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, located on Swinomish Channel along the Puget Sound in Skagit County, partnered with the Washington State Department of Commerce to take major steps toward their clean energy goals. Like many communities, Swinomish had a written clean energy plan but lacked the funding to bring it to life. To date, Commerce has invested $6,450,939 across seven clean energy projects in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, including five funded through the Climate Commitment Act.
It began with a simple question from Swinomish youth: “Why don’t we have solar?” Tribal elders and leaders listened, and that moment began a series of projects that are reshaping energy systems, lowering bills, improving resilience, and laying the groundwork for future careers in clean energy.
The first Commerce-supported project to move forward was the Apartments and Cottages Solar and Battery Backup Microgrids, a transformative investment of $1,753,156 in affordable Tribal housing. This project equips a new development of three townhouses and six cottages with a single-node solar and storage microgrid. The system provides: significant utility savings, backup power during outages, increased energy independence, and an expanded tribal renewable energy portfolio. For families, the impact has been large- with some seeing monthly energy bills drop from roughly $160 to as low as $10.
After the first successful project, a flagship project emerged: the solar-plus-storage system for the Swinomish Youth Center Resiliency Hub. The Youth Center is a critical facility for the community, housing a large commercial kitchen and cafeteria, a gymnasium used for community gatherings and emergency support, and the Tribe’s youth center and playground. The Youth Center also becomes the primary community and resource hub during emergencies or disasters, providing reliable services and support.
One of the Tribes core goals is to turn these projects into long-term employment pathways for Tribal members. The community is developing workforce programs to allow young people to build careers in solar installation, energy storage, and system maintenance, transforming a youth-led question into lasting economic opportunity.
Learn more from Commerce here: How Swinomish youth sparked a clean energy movement – Washington State Department of Commerce