Earlier this year, Energy Central dispatched our annual call for nominations for power professionals leading the way in Innovation, and we're proud to announce the 5 winners and 4 honorable mentions, which you can read about here. This week, we'll be spotlighting each of those winners after conducting interviews to learn more about their great work.
Please help us celebrate Walter’s and the other champions' successes by reading some of the insights garnered from these exclusive Innovation Champion Interviews.
One of the most unique aspects of the U.S. utility landscape is the vast variety of utility types and situations that stretch across the unique geographics, communities, and situations all across the country. While most people would tend to assume the utility landscape looks pretty similar from one area to the next, some utilities have specific challenges based on their landscape. A key utility as such includes power utilities for tribal communities, and their situations create the need for a different type of innovation to solve their precise needs. For his efforts leading Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA) in tackling myriad challenges through the embrace of innovation, Walter Haase has been recognized by Energy Central as a 2023 Innovation Champion.
Walter is the General Manager at NTUA, and over the past 15 years he’s guided this largest multi-utility system owned and operated by a Native American tribe. The utility peer nominating Walter highlighted that from the time he arrived on the Navajo Nation, his primary objective was to improve the quality of life for people living in a part of the United States where electricity still had not reached thousands of homes. Innovation has been key to the ways Walter has identified to reduce the number of families not connected to the grid and how that progress will continue to shape the coming years.
In this exclusive interview with Walter, we hear about how innovation has pushed forward his mission-driven pursuit at NTUA.
Matt Chester: Congratulations on being selected as one of our Champions of Innovation for 2023! Can you tell us a bit about your role in the utility sector and how you got started in this space?
Walter Haase: Certainly. I'm an electrical engineer from the University of Illinois, and I hold a professional engineering license in multiple states. Additionally, I have an MBA from Keller Graduate School in Chicago. In terms of my experience, I've been working in this field for over 35 years and have managed four different utilities across the United States. What sets these utilities apart is that they are all multi-service, providing electric, water, wastewater, natural gas, and even communication services such as broadband and mobile phones.
I found that I enjoyed working in the utilities sector, so I transitioned to a small municipal utility called St. Charles in the Chicago area. There, I gained experience in both water and electric services. Since then, all the utilities I have worked for and managed have been multi-service utilities. I found my passion in constructing and making things work, and I have been dedicated to this field ever since.
MC: When you accepted your role at NTUA, what were the goals you had in mind? What was your mission and how have you stayed motivated towards those goals for over 15 years?
WH: When I first joined NTUA, my goal was to provide utility services to the people in our service territory who had never had access to them before. It was a unique situation because in most other areas, utilities were already built out, and people were simply moving from one house to another with existing services. But here, we were serving families living in homes that had been passed down through generations without ever having electricity.
My mission was clear: I wanted to find a way to make utility services affordable and improve the standard of living for these communities. Electricity and water are fundamental necessities that greatly impact people's lives. Having access to electricity means no longer relying on wood or coal for heating and cooking, and refrigeration becomes possible. These changes free up time and allow individuals to be more productive in various aspects of their lives, such as education and childcare.
At NTUA, we aimed to provide basic utility services like electricity, water, and wastewater services to these underserved communities. Additionally, we explored creating other business lines within the organization to support this goal. For example, we established a communications company to offer communication products like landline phones to homes that lacked them, helping them stay connected with family and have access to emergency services.
One of the biggest challenges we faced was affordability. The per capita income in our service territory was significantly lower than the national average, making it difficult for families to afford utility services. The cost of connecting homes to the grid, including the necessary infrastructure and house wiring, was substantial. If we were to raise rates to cover these costs, it would become unaffordable for our existing customers, and we would risk driving them away.
We had to think outside the box and find innovative solutions. It was crucial to keep the services affordable while addressing multiple problems simultaneously. In addition to electricity and water, we recognized the growing importance of broadband as an essential service. By providing broadband access, we could support education, communication, and overall quality of life for these communities.
It's a complex challenge, and the scale of the problem is significant. Connecting thousands of homes to utilities requires substantial investments and long-term planning. We have been making progress, connecting hundreds of families each year, but we need to continue finding ways to accelerate the process. We strive for a 30-year solution rather than a 50-year one, understanding that the sooner we can serve these communities, the better their lives will become.
Incremental steps are necessary, and while there are always more families waiting for service, every connection we make is a positive change. It's better to help 500 families a year than 300 or 400. We remain dedicated to envisioning new ideas, energizing people to support our cause, and taking it one step at a time. Through this process, we aim to eliminate the use of wood and coal for cooking and heating, improve living conditions, and empower these communities for a better future.
MC: In your nomination, it was mentioned a myriad of projects and successes under your watch from the APPA mutual aid partnership to the training partnership with LADWP to Light Up Navajo and more. Which undertakings do you most prize for how they were innovative and the successes they brought?
WH: When people bring electricity to these homes, it's not just about taking care of the current generation and the kids. It goes beyond that because there will be somebody occupying that homestead in the future. Maybe not in the same house, but the electricity will be there. The Light Up Navajo project is a great example of how various communities, including investor-owned utilities, cooperatives, and public power entities like municipal and utility districts, are coming together to address the injustice and inequity faced by the Native American people who have been in the United States for much longer than anyone else.
It's important to note that the Navajo people stopped fighting the United States in 1868 and became part of it. They have fought for our freedoms and served in the armed forces, making them the highest serving ethnic group in the U.S. military. Yet, they still lack basic necessities in their homeland that other communities take for granted. This is compounded by the fact that four large coal-fired power plants in the Navajo mines powered major cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tucson, and Albuquerque, but the Navajo communities themselves didn't have access to electricity.
This disparity is unjust, and it's time to change it. By providing the necessary infrastructure, we can help grow their economies and improve their standard of living. The initial program, Light Up Navajo, focused on providing electricity to the Navajo Nation, and it gained support from cities, investor-owned utilities, and cooperatives. We then expanded the program to include other initiatives, such as training opportunities.
One significant aspect of the program is the training it provides. It allows utility workers to gain valuable skills in a non-emergency situation, which prepares them to handle emergencies more efficiently. For example, utility workers from Los Angeles, one of the largest municipal power entities, participated in the program. While LA has reliable systems, the training they received during the program helped them enhance their skills and learn how to build and maintain power lines effectively. This training is invaluable and goes beyond what traditional classroom or video-based training can provide.
Moreover, the program creates a sense of accomplishment and motivation for the community. Customers who are used to complaining about brief power outages gain a new perspective when they witness firsthand the impact of having no electricity at all. They realize how fortunate they are to have reliable power and how valuable the skills and efforts of utility workers are.
The Light Up Navajo program not only benefits the Navajo people but also serves as a reminder of what America stands for—helping others have a better life. It's about setting aside our differences and acting in the best interest of all our communities, even when we don't always agree. By working together and providing support, we can change the narrative and ensure that Native American communities feel respected and cared for.
Additionally, we are also focusing on developing renewable energy projects in the Navajo Nation. These utility-scale projects not only meet our own customers' needs but also serve customers outside the region. The Navajo people now have ownership stakes in these renewable energy plants, which brings additional benefits to the community. This ownership allows us to grow the workforce and create opportunities for skill development. By training individuals in the construction of renewable energy projects, we equip them with valuable skills that can be transferred to other industries.
Our aim is to strengthen the Navajo economy, diversify their skill sets, and demonstrate that the Navajo Nation can be a reliable partner in the energy sector. Electricity is the backbone of any community, and by providing a Navajo-produced electric product, we can showcase the Navajo Nation's capabilities and contribute to their economic growth.
MC: Something we want to ask all of our champions: what does innovation mean to you, especially when it comes to the utility sector? And how do you ensure it finds its way into the DNA of your teams rather than just being a buzz word?
WH: Every community has the opportunity to innovate, and each community's innovation will be unique because the needs and circumstances vary. I encourage people to engage with community leaders and the workforce to identify areas where innovation can thrive. It's crucial to inspire and engage the workforce because innovation often requires going above and beyond the norm.
Initially, not everyone may be fully on board, but the reward is tremendous when success is achieved. By empowering and giving ideas to your team, you create a legacy that will outlive you.
I've seen this firsthand with my staff who initially found the challenge of implementing Light Up Navajo daunting but eventually progressed to the stage of providing mutual aid. Even after I'm gone, as long as there are people willing to work towards the mission, the staff will continue to drive it forward.
It's essential to appreciate your staff, volunteers, and new customers. Creating an environment where everyone can share their experiences and celebrate achievements is key to fostering unity. It's crucial to establish interaction between new and existing customers, and this can be achieved through various means, such as broadband.
Ultimately, inspiration is essential for future generations. The people I work with will accomplish far greater things than I ever did because they were given the opportunity and embraced it. I may have provided the vision and guidance, but they did all the work. It's been a while since I climbed a pole or handled engineering tasks on my own. They are the ones making things happen, and that's the beauty of innovation.
Read about the other Innovation Selections here: https://energycentral.com/o/energy-central/energy-central-announces-our-2023-innovation-champions
Check out the full Innovation Special Issue here: https://energycentral.com/topics/tags/special-issue-2023-06-innovation-power-industry