Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL)

The Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) is a nonprofit dedicated to making solar energy accessible to everyone. We work to expand solar capacity, education, & workforce development opportunities to have a tangible impact on poverty in Central & Northern Minnesota.

RREAL’s core goal is to reduce poverty in Central and Northern Minnesota with clean solar energy.

Since our founding in 2000, RREAL has worked to bring solar power to more low-income families and communities as a sustainable solution to energy poverty.

Your support in recent years enabled us to:

1. Graduate 26 solar interns at White Earth Tribal & Community College.
2. Send six solar interns to pain on-the-job training at a utility grade site under construction by Minnesota Power.
3. Assist White Earth Tribal & Community College leaders as they worked to integrate the solar internship program into core science curriculum at the college, and become the SECOND approved NABCEP solar training and testing site in all of Minnesota.
4. Add solar to two more Habitat built homes through Solar for Humanity.
5. Draft an agrivoltaics curriculum for young students to learn about the symbiotic relationship between sustainable agriculture and solar power.
6. Plan and progress in the work of building four 4,000 square foot commercial greenhouses in communities in Central & Northern Minnesota.

Together, we CAN build a clean energy future with a focus on solar power and the pursuit of integrated sustainability projects.

Your donation will support the following in 2023:

1. Launch a majority Native-owned clean energy contracting company with our White Earth-based partners. This company will develop clean energy projects around the region and create jobs for WETCC Solar Program graduates.
2. Export the Solar Internship program beyond White Earth Tribal & Community College to more regional tribal and community colleges. Power, electric, and solar installation companies all want to hire a more diverse regional workforce. We can continue to expand education and training opportunities in our region to prepare more workers and communities for work in the growing clean energy sector.
3. Reduce energy poverty and create long-term housing stability by completing more Solar for Humanity projects with Habitat partners. In the years ahead, these projects will provide on the job training opportunities for new solar installers and lower energy costs for new homeowners.
4. Move forward on four, 4,000 square foot solar-powered commercial greenhouses at four rural locations, including one at RREAL’s headquarters in Backus and one in White Earth Nation. Solar greenhouses are an opportunity to address a double bottom line fighting poverty: food & energy.
5. Deploy an agrivoltaics curriculum to share these innovations with children and teens and generate interest in the overlap of sustainable food production and solar power.

Donate today for clean solar power, clean energy education and workforce opportunities, a diversified solar workforce, and sustainable food production for communities across the state.

We need to raise $5,000 this Give to the Max Day and $20,000 by December 31 to keep this work moving in 2023.

Your support makes this work possible. Together, we have the power to make a difference!

Donate today and we can build a more sustainable future, together. Thank you!