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Building a sovereign future: Tribal Nations lead on clean energy, raising the next generation of energy leaders
By Heather Sparks on October 5, 2026
How do you do right by future generations? Robert (Bob) Blake, a member of the Red Lake Nation, helps Tribal members prepare for their energy future through economic development, decision making, and youth leadership.
After his brother’s death, Bob became a surrogate father to his brother’s kids. This awakened a protectiveness in Bob and inspired him to build his career around Tribal energy sovereignty — a framework that recognizes Tribes’ “genuine control over reservation decision making, the use of reservation resources, and relations with the outside world.”
Bob supports the ability of Tribes to direct how energy is produced, consumed, and managed in their communities as the CEO of Solar Bear, a solar installation company, and executive director of Native Sun Community Power Development, both in Minnesota. The organizations have been spearheading an environmental youth curriculum and the new Makwa Solar Array near Blackduck.
Developing community resources
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Tribal households have an energy burden (the percent of a household’s income spent on energy bills) that is 28% higher than the average U.S. household, even though they are 6.5 times more likely to experience outages.
“[Red Lake Nation alone] sends roughly $20 to $30 million off the reservation for their electricity bill [each year],” Bob said.
Approximately 5,500 residents lived in Red Lake Nation in 2020.
“I always say we are in the gaming business which is a billion dollar industry,” Bob said. “We need to be in the energy business which is a trillion dollar industry.”
Breaking ground on May 15, 2026, the Makwa Solar Array is positioned to bring those financial resources to the Tribe. Developed by Solar Bear and located on Tribal land near Blackduck, Minnesota, the 3 megawatt array is wholly owned by the Tribe and, once operational next summer, will help reduce the energy bills of Red Lake Nation members.
Energy from the project will be sold with the resulting income added to the Tribe’s general fund. The revenue will then be used to reduce members’ utility bills and to support services like early childhood education and food delivery for elders.
Additionally, Native Sun Community Power Development is leading workforce development efforts on this project. Tribal members are being hired to work on the array, building skills that can help them build a career as solar panel installers or electricians.
“The important thing here is the pride that community members feel being part of such an important project … and being able to acquire a skill,” Bob said.
Together, the construction work and the workforce development help keep energy production and employment within the community.
Sovereignty is meant to be used
Tribal energy sovereignty goes beyond development. It extends to independent decision making and collaboration with state and private entities.
As sovereign nations within the U.S., Tribes have a right to decision making about what happens on Tribal land. However, energy infrastructure, like power lines, is often planned across reservation boundaries; until recently, Tribes lacked an avenue for collaborating with state governments about infrastructure development decisions.
Thanks in part to Bob’s advocacy, this is no longer the case in Minnesota. The Tribal Advocacy Council on Energy (TACE) acts as a liaison between Tribes and the state. This council helps ensure that Tribes are included in energy development decisions.
Bob hopes the ability to exercise sovereignty will continue to grow and eventually result in the establishment of Tribal Utility Authorities (TUA) in Minnesota. These decision-making bodies are independent entities that can set rates and enforce and establish rules within Tribal boundaries.
“They would position Tribes as a peer stakeholder among other regulators rather than as a customer or second party to external utilities,” Sunbear Industries says.
“Tribal energy sovereignty means to me the highest form of sovereignty,” Bob said. “Sovereignty doesn’t really matter if you’re not exercising it.”
Building capacity
Raising the next generation of leaders is a key aspect of Bob’s approach to Tribal energy sovereignty. This includes teaching young people about energy production and the natural world around them.
In Red Lake Nation, Native Sun Community Power Development is building a program called Solar Cub. Expected to be completed this spring, the curriculum teaches “environmentalism, climatology, energy, and Native culture” by incorporating a mobile classroom and Ojibwe language learning features. Solar Cub engages students in hands-on projects, teaching about food and energy sovereignty in addition to completing electrical circuits.
Energy touches many aspects of people’s lives — from local infrastructure to production revenues to land use to affordability. This in turn impacts coming generations, which is why building confidence and resilience is central in Bob’s work.
“We’re leaving the kids with a very big [environmental] problem,” Bob said. “If we give them the tools now, they can sit there and say, ‘well, the [Solar] Bears taught me how to deal with this.’”
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