Tribal Work

ZEN got to do a year’s worth of work on Project Tiošpáye, a collaboration between ASES and Red Cloud Renewable at the Oglala Lakota homelands in Pine Ridge South Dakota. Project Tiošpáye in Lakota means home and security in the biggest sense, intergenerational compound living, sharing of resources, caring for all members and for the land.

Sadly the federal funding for the umbrella program for this project was canceled by the EPA in 2025, so our work was interrupted midstream. Still we greatly value the connections strengthened with our Lakota colleagues, the lessons learned and the two systems we were able to get built before termination.

© Carly Rixham

Details on Project Tiošpáye were featured in New Energy World magazine and also in a recent interview with Nick Forster on Boulder’s own E-Town where we got to share the stage with Sam Weber and Leslie Feist.

Check out our article in the Fall 2024 Solar Today magazine, Project Tiošpáye: Net Zero Solar Living for the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe.

For more information, write to us at zen@ases.org or donate to our work.

© Karen Soares

The ASES Zero Emissions Network Team and ASES Board worked with Red Cloud Renewable on designs for a new solar system for the Wakpamni District dome cluster at Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.  A big thank you to our installation crew, Marie Kills Warrior, Dylan Tobacco, Terri Iron Cloud, Jack Red Cloud, and Silas Red Cloud.