Episode 1.11 On Microgrids and Prioritizing Resilience with Daniel Wiggins Jr.
11/09/21 • 56 min
After a historic flooding event in 2016, which left the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa without power and critical infrastructure, the tribe committed themselves to installing microgrids to ensure clean, resilient power on tribal lands. In May 2021, the tribe commissioned three building level microgrids, incorporating more than 520 kW of solar and over 1MWh of battery storage, the largest battery system to date in the state of Wisconsin. The project is named Ishkonige Nawadide, which means "it catches fire" in Anishinaabemowin.
Dan Wiggins is the visionary who led the team to implement these projects. He's been working for the tribe for over 10 years as a tribal energy manager and air quality technician, with expertise from utility scale infrastructure to residential energy efficiency, and now three tremendously successful microgrids.
It's been my great pleasure to work with Dan on his energy team to plan, design, and realize his vision for resilient tribal energy and energy sovereignty. This conversation is an extension of our professional partnership, and our friendship: fiery, passionate, fun, and very committed to doing projects when they are the right thing to do.
Referenced in this episode:
Episode 1.06 with Liana Cassar on Energy Policy
Episode 1.09 with Katherine Lucey on Air Quality
Quotables
"We all answer to somebody, whether it's leadership, whether it's our children, or whether it's the community we reside in. Really listening to all of those resources is the right thing to do."
"The way I approach renewable energy is that you have do first do it because it's the right thing to do. That has to be the #1 goal for any renewable energy project."
"Strategic planning is the fun part of project development. You get to take everybody's ideas, throw them in a blender, and hope something magic comes out."
This week’s guest
Daniel Wiggins Jr is a Bad River Tribal Member and the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) Natural Resource Department’s Air Quality Technician (AQT). He has worked for the Tribe for nearly 10 years as the AQT and has had oversight of the Tribe’s Renewable Energy Activities since 2017.
He was recently tasked as Project Lead for the Ishkonige Nawadide Solar Microgrid Project, which installed over 500 kilowatts of solar and 1,000 kilowatt hours of batteries at three tribal facilities.
The Tribe’s energy projects are planned and executed on the Tribe’s ability to exercise energy sovereignty, and eventually reach the Tribe’s energy vision, “to empower and enable the community to move towards energy independence.”
Resources:
Connect with the Mashkiiziibii Natural Resource Departmen on Facebook.
Check out Bad River’s website.
If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Solar Sister is a non-profit organization that envisions a brighter world powered by women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa. In the next five years, Solar Sister will empower 10 thousand women who can bring clean energy to 10 million people. Join them on this journey by going to www.solarsister.org and clicking Give Now.
After a historic flooding event in 2016, which left the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa without power and critical infrastructure, the tribe committed themselves to installing microgrids to ensure clean, resilient power on tribal lands. In May 2021, the tribe commissioned three building level microgrids, incorporating more than 520 kW of solar and over 1MWh of battery storage, the largest battery system to date in the state of Wisconsin. The project is named Ishkonige Nawadide, which means "it catches fire" in Anishinaabemowin.
Dan Wiggins is the visionary who led the team to implement these projects. He's been working for the tribe for over 10 years as a tribal energy manager and air quality technician, with expertise from utility scale infrastructure to residential energy efficiency, and now three tremendously successful microgrids.
It's been my great pleasure to work with Dan on his energy team to plan, design, and realize his vision for resilient tribal energy and energy sovereignty. This conversation is an extension of our professional partnership, and our friendship: fiery, passionate, fun, and very committed to doing projects when they are the right thing to do.
Referenced in this episode:
Episode 1.06 with Liana Cassar on Energy Policy
Episode 1.09 with Katherine Lucey on Air Quality
Quotables
"We all answer to somebody, whether it's leadership, whether it's our children, or whether it's the community we reside in. Really listening to all of those resources is the right thing to do."
"The way I approach renewable energy is that you have do first do it because it's the right thing to do. That has to be the #1 goal for any renewable energy project."
"Strategic planning is the fun part of project development. You get to take everybody's ideas, throw them in a blender, and hope something magic comes out."
This week’s guest
Daniel Wiggins Jr is a Bad River Tribal Member and the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) Natural Resource Department’s Air Quality Technician (AQT). He has worked for the Tribe for nearly 10 years as the AQT and has had oversight of the Tribe’s Renewable Energy Activities since 2017.
He was recently tasked as Project Lead for the Ishkonige Nawadide Solar Microgrid Project, which installed over 500 kilowatts of solar and 1,000 kilowatt hours of batteries at three tribal facilities.
The Tribe’s energy projects are planned and executed on the Tribe’s ability to exercise energy sovereignty, and eventually reach the Tribe’s energy vision, “to empower and enable the community to move towards energy independence.”
Resources:
Connect with the Mashkiiziibii Natural Resource Departmen on Facebook.
Check out Bad River’s website.
If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Solar Sister is a non-profit organization that envisions a brighter world powered by women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa. In the next five years, Solar Sister will empower 10 thousand women who can bring clean energy to 10 million people. Join them on this journey by going to www.solarsister.org and clicking Give Now.
Previous Episode
Episode 1.10 On Solar Recycling and the Joy-Innovation Positive Feedback Loop with Janette Freeman
1 RecommendationsWe all know the green benefits of installing renewable energy generation like solar PV, but what happens at the system's end of life? If the panels end up in a landfill, we aren't doing our planet any favors.
Janette Freeman at FabTech is on a mission to keep panels out of landfills by either reusing or recycling them. In this episode, we talk about what the different paths to reuse and recycling look like and how to shift mindset to prepare for project end-of-life during earlier project phases to create an even greener clean energy future.
Janette is also a deep thinker and sees the connections, as I do, between personal development, business development, and innovation. We talk about the positive feedback loop created by joy and innovation and dream of a future where creativity spurs us on to a brighter future.
Referenced Often: Episode 1.05 with Leslie Glustrom on how to engage with policymakers
Quotables
"More joy brings more solutions."
"For most decomissions, those panels are fine and they are an asset."
"When we keep working on ourselves and keep listening to our intuition, our creativity, our innovation, and let our inside matter, the outside solutions become more evident to us."
-all above quotes by Janette Freeman
This week’s guest
Janette Freeman is passionate about saving the landfill from the millions of solar panels which will be coming to end-of-life in the years ahead.
She is the Director of Business Development for FabTech Solar Solutions, which does solar panel refurbishing and recycling, giving panels a second life or a proper cremation. Prior to working in renewables, she worked in personal development training and coaching. She is the author of three books and has a Doctorate of Consciousness Studies.
Resources:
Books:
Spiral: A Catalyst for Innovation and Expansion by Amy Simpkins
Connect with Janette on LinkedIn.
Check out Fab Tech’s website.
If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch! And hey, we’re new, so you can even apply to be a sponsor or a guest.
You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok.
Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
Next Episode
Episode 1.12 On Interoperability and Breaking Down Stovepipes with Lori Wright
Lori Wright is helping to solve tomorrow's problems today. She is a lawyer working in technology - often energy technology - and helping developers, designers, and innovators build systems that will stand the test of time.
She focuses on issues of cybersecurity and interoperability, topics that are often hard for implementers to stop and think about. Lori brings a long-game perspective on how the decisions we make today help or hinder the clean energy future, and we'd all do well to pay attention.
Also discussed in this episode: Episode 1.03 On the Future of Transactive Energy with Kay Aikin
Episode 1.06 On the Power of Holistic, Incremental Transformation with Liana Cassar(on Energy Policy)
Quotables
“Just because we can't solve it to the end doesn't mean we shouldn't start solving.”
“What's going to move solar into the future is market certainty.”
“Energy, like anything, is powered by data. Everything is going to be interoperable and we should just plan for that.”
“How do you predict the future? You look to the current and you look to the past.”
Lori Wright
This week’s guest
Lori Wright is a partner and chair of AGG’s Technology practice. She represents buyers and sellers of technology and helps clients navigate the legal, business, and practical issues that arise in the course of the development, commercialization, procurement, and deployment of technology.
Lori’s practice includes representing domestic and international clients in transactions involving software development and licensing, digital transformation and complex global technology, and business process outsourcing. She frequently negotiates an array of complex sourcing relationships, including strategic alliances, business process outsourcing (BPO), IT outsourcing (ITO), and other strategic sourcing and revenue sharing arrangements. Lori has extensive experience restructuring and renegotiating legacy or otherwise unfavorable transactions, as well as advising clients through the process of termination, resourcing, or insourcing.
Resources:
Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.
Check out AGG’s website.
If you enjoyed the conversation, please share the episode with other innovators. Leave us a positive review and subscribe to Power Flow on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Check out our awesome merch!
You can follow Power Flow Podcast on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tik Tok.
Thank you for listening. See you at the whiteboard!
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