In 2021, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) Tribal Council promised that the tribe would prioritize renewable energy and electric vehicles, committing to plan for the next seven generations of Cherokee descendants. The next Spring, the EBCI celebrated its achievement of receiving North Carolina’s first electric school bus.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Volkswagen Settlement Mitigation Plan funded the first electric bus. The application was a collaboration between the EBCI Air Quality Program and the Cherokee Boys Club, which operates the school buses for the Cherokee School System. Katie Tiger, the EBCI Air Quality Program Supervisor, and Donnie Owle, Service Manager for the Cherokee Boys Club, were instrumental in the process.
“The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is really focused on the future and what that looks like in terms of climate change and climate resilience,” Tiger said. “So we’re really trying to incorporate all these alternative energy projects now, so we’ll be ready for the future.”
Now, in 2024, the EBCI continues to lead North Carolina and the nation in clean transportation efforts. In September, the EBCI received $4.99 million from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to further electrify transportation and integrate renewables. These funds will allow the EBCI to electrify its entire school bus fleet with 15 more electric buses.
Federal Funding Every Step of the Way
“Federal funding has really been key,” Tiger said. “Being able to get 15 additional school buses to make our fleet 100% electric is an amazing accomplishment.”
The school bus depot will have a 400-kW solar microgrid and an 80-kW diesel energy storage system to charge the buses. Funds will also be allocated to construct a 52-kW solar array on the Tribal Council House Complex and a 121-kW solar array on the New Kituwah Academy rooftop. In additional electric transportation upgrades, the EBCI will purchase one heavy-duty electric dump truck to run the 103-mile route hauling trash to Homer, GA, six days a week and install 20 publically accessible Level 2 EV charging stations for the community.
“Grants like the IRA are helpful in that we can make a difference in other ways that we might be limited in if we were only using our strict funding dollars.” – Consie Girty, Superintendent, Cherokee Central Schools
These projects are projected to reduce emissions by 151,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent by 2050, contributing to both local and large-scale public health, environmental health, and climate resilience. In addition to these long-term health and community resilience benefits, switching to electric buses also has immediate and tangible economic benefits for the community.
“Our diesel buses were costing us about $800 a month. Now, with electric and the charging, we’re paying about $400 probably in a year’s time. They’ve saved us probably $50,000 to $60,000.” – Donnie Owle, Service Manager, Cherokee Boys Club
The Cherokee Boys Club also recently received a $229,050 grant from the USDA’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Program (REAP) to install a 132.4-kW solar array with battery storage. This project is projected to save the Boys Club $15,328 annually and generate 178,368 kWh annually — enough electricity to power 16 homes.
These clean energy investments represent more than just the power of federal funding — they represent cultural preservation, economic resilience, and sustainable leadership. The Cherokee legacy of environmental stewardship is visible in the solar trees surrounding tribal monuments and buildings.
“We live in the most beautiful place on earth right here in the Great Smoky Mountains, our traditional homeland…. Maintaining that beauty and maintaining this culture and where we’re at and taking care of it is a sacred obligation of our people.” – Perry M. Shell, Tribal Council Representative, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
Resources
Read Cherokee Central High School’s Green Fact Sheet
Apply for the Clean School Bus Rebate Program
Read more clean energy success stories at Energy for All Y’all
Join the Clean Energy Generation
The post “A Sacred Obligation of Our People:” The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Leads North Carolina in Environmental Stewardship With IRA Funding appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
CIP Buys Ørsted EU Onshore Wind
Allen covers CIP’s €1.44 billion buyout of Ørsted’s European onshore wind, the new Perigus Energy name, and Vestas paying €506 million for its stake in the firm.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
In Denmark, there is an old expression. “What goes around comes around.” The founders of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners — known in the industry simply as CIP — know exactly what that means.
Back in 2012, four executives were fired from DONG Energy, the Danish energy giant that would later rebrand itself as Ørsted. Their offense? Their paychecks were considered too large. So large that DONG Energy’s own CEO was forced out as well. Four men shown the door were. A year later, a woman joined them from that same company. The Danish press had a name for these five. They called them “the golden birds.”
With six billion Danish krone from the pension fund PensionDanmark, they launched what is now one of the world’s largest clean energy fund managers.
In 2020, turbine maker Vestas purchased a 25 percent stake in CIP. The deal included a performance-based earn-out arrangement. This week, the books revealed the size of that windfall.
The five partners have now collected a combined 1.8 billion Danish krone — roughly 240 million euros. Vestas expects to make one final payment of 71 million euros this year. Including interest, Vestas will have paid 506 million euros for its stake in CIP. Not a bad return for a group of people who were shown the door.
And. This week, CIP completed its acquisition of Ørsted’s European onshore wind business for 1.44 billion euros. They renamed it Perigus Energy. The new company holds 826 megawatts of wind and solar capacity, operating in Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain.
Let that circle close. The executives fired from DONG Energy — the company that became Ørsted — just bought Ørsted’s business.
Meanwhile, CIP’s annual report for 2025 tells the story of a company in transition. Profit for the year came in at 561 million Danish krone, down from 683 million the year before. The employee count fell by nearly a fifth, to 441 people. And yet, their CI Five fund closed this year at 12.3 billion euros — the largest greenfield renewable infrastructure fund ever raised. Looking ahead, CIP expects profit of 600 to 800 million Danish krone in 2026 as new fund closings take shape.
So the picture this week is this. The men and women once considered overpaid, at a company that no longer carries the same name, have built the world’s largest greenfield renewable energy fund. And they now own a piece of the legacy that fired them.
The golden birds are still flying.
And that is the wind energy news for the fourth of May, 2026. Join us for more on the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.
Here’s Lucy Biggers, social media powerhouse, explaining how solar and wind energy actually aren’t free, because they require materials that need to be mined from the Earth.
Yes, Lucy. I think most of us already knew that.
It’s hard for me to understand how a person with zero training in science has any relevance to what climate scientists are telling us. If I want a good recipe for carrot soup, I don’t ask a baseball coach or an auto mechanic.
They call this woman an “influencer.” What type of idiot does she influence?
Yes, part of this is stupidity. But a larger part is that people who still support Trump at this point are desperate to believe whatever comes out of his mouth, regardless of how nonsensical it may be.
I wish my mother were still here so I could see where she would stand. She was extremely well-educated, and a voracious reader, but somehow remained a Fox News viewer until the end. I just wonder if the last 15 months may have turned her around.
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