SRP line crews have completed a three-week project to bring electricity to 10 homes on the Navajo Nation, as part of the Light Up Navajo (LUN) initiative. The work involved building six miles of power lines, including 104 poles and stringing over 63,000 feet of wire. Despite sandy terrain, which required a bulldozer to pull large line trucks with trailers and to help string line for about 40 of the poles, the crews were able to complete the project successfully.
A team of 14 employees worked alongside line workers from 26 different utilities and 15 states, all coming together to bring electricity to the Navajo Nation. This marks the third year that SRP has participated in the LUN project, where they have provided their employee time, line trucks, digging equipment, and a mechanic service truck to the cause.
The project will continue through the end of June and aims to provide power to over 200 homes.
The LUN is a humanitarian aid project that started in 2019 to deliver power to homes in the Navajo Nation without electricity. It is a partnership between the America Public Power Association (APPA) and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA).
According to APPA, there are approximately 300,000 individuals living on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Among the 55,000 homes located within the region, approximately 13,500 homes still lack access to electricity, accounting for 75% of all households in the country without power.
