KAYENTA – Electrical power lines are nowhere in sight from Helen Salazar’s home. She lives on a dirt road in Monument Valley, part of the Navajo Nation. Throughout her life, Salazar has adapted to the challenges of living in a remote, off-grid home.
She uses an ice chest to help perishable foods last longer, makes trips to a local store several times a week and dries meat to preserve it.
Electricians from the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority recently installed an off-grid solar system and small wind turbine at her home. On Nov. 3, the workers turned on a lightbulb in the 88-year-old’s kitchen for the first time.
Tourists occasionally visit the two traditional Navajo homes, called hogans, on her property near the Arizona/Utah border. During one visit, someone showed her some portable solar-powered lights – and that sparked her interest in using solar for electricity.
She hopes the solar system will generate enough energy to power a refrigerator.
“I am old and tired and exhausted,” she said through a translator. “I requested a solar energy system so I can have refrigerated food.”
Salazar’s home is one of thousands on the Navajo Nation that aren’t connected to the grid. The most recent comprehensive study, done by the Energy Information Administration in 2000 and based on data from the 1990 U.S. Census, found that there were about 18,000 homes without power – about one-third of those on the reservation.