Kayenta Solar Facility
Photo: Drake Dunaway
Having worked in the electric and natural gas utility business for over 45 years, Glenn Steiger is currently focused on expanding renewable energy throughout Arizona.
Steiger is the executive consultant for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority. He immerses himself in the renewable energy business, and has a goal to usher the sustainability movement towards the future. His work with the Kayenta Solar Facility does just that.
Reporter Lindsey Clinkingbeard and Glenn Steiger interview together at the Arizona State University campus in Tempe, Arizona
Photo: Conrad Romero
The Kayenta Solar Facility is the newest solar addition located in northern Arizona. According to Steiger, the power plant provides additional power to those who live in the Navajo Nation. Yes, that power is renewable.
Utility companies such as Salt River Project are working with the Kayenta Facility in order to abide with the corporate commission compliance requirement to get 15% of their power from renewable sources. In other states, such as California, the requirements are closer to double of that.
The renewable power source is a first for the Navajo Nation community.
Kayenta Solar Facility – Location via Google Maps
“Solar energy is one of the most cutting-edge technologies today… it will only get better and more efficient,” Steiger says.
Reporter Drake Dunaway traveled to northern Arizona to visit Steiger at the Kayenta Solar Facility, where he was shown exactly where “Kayenta 2” will be built.
Dunaway describes the eye-opening experience of seeing both the solar field and the vast Navajo Nation in person.
“It was a combination of the land’s beauty but also like wow… there is just so much space here,” Dunaway said.
Steiger explains more about Kayenta’s new solar facility in the video below.
HIDDEN ARIZONA SOLAR 