The Puyallup Tribe continues to expand its economic development portfolio, this time as the lead investor in an energy storage company to support the use of more renewable power.
The tribe is joining Portland-based Skip Technology to make large-scale flow batteries that run on hydrogen and bromine. They’ll be ideal for storing intermittent energy sources such as solar and wind power and they don’t require destructive rare earth mining for minerals like lithium or cobalt.
Exclusive manufacturing deal, board seat for tribe
According to Matt Wadhwani, the CEO of Puyallup Tribal Enterprises, the tribe has signed on as the exclusive manufacturer of the container-sized devices. He said they’re building a new factory in Fife where they’ll 3D print the batteries’ components.
Final assembly will take place with an expansion of operations at their container modification facility, Tahoma Global Logistics, in the Port of Tacoma, where they already have welders and other employees ready to take on more work.
“It's just kind of like a seamless alignment between what the tribe wants to do with manufacturing jobs, sustainable businesses, the environment most importantly and also generating revenue and having a diversified revenue portfolio,” Wadhwani said. “It just kind of checked all the boxes.”
The Puyallup Tribe was one of the first tribal governments to declare a climate emergency on Dec. 10, 2019. The Puyallup Tribal Council agrees that this new venture aligns well with its long history as a steward of its lands and waters.
Wadhwani said manufacturing should start this year. With so much renewable energy coming online, they expect the venture to soon produce millions of dollars in annual revenue and several hundred good manufacturing jobs.
The partnership says the renewable energy storage market is expected to grow at a rate of 30 percent annually, with an estimated yearly revenue of $750 million.
Puyallup Tribal Enterprises also secured a seat on Skip Technology’s board of directors as part of this investment deal.
“It’s a partnership – we want to make sure we’re aligned,” Wadhwani said.
“And when they win, we win. When we win, they win,” he said.
“A partner who shares our dream”
“We're incredibly excited to work with them,” said Skip Technology’s president and co-founder Ben Brown. Based on conversations when they first met at an investor startup event in Seattle eight months ago, he said they’re clearly well aligned in their values and philosophy.
“They are a partner who shares our dream of a more equitable, reliable and environmentally friendly grid,” Brown said.
He added that the company is also excited to keep its footprint in the Pacific Northwest as it plans for its manufacturing future on tribal land in Tacoma.
“This is our home, this is where we want to be. This is this is where we want to build neat things. And so that was a tremendous factor in things as well,” he said.
An added benefit is the tribe’s access to special federal benefits that are designed to incentivize private investments in economically distressed communities. These include tax-exempt financing, discounted leasing rates, foreign trade zoning and new-market tax credits for enterprises on federal trust lands. The tribe just last week expanded its trust lands, adding 17 acres of waterfront property, thanks to an act of Congress.
Tribal advantage: lands in federal trust
The tribe's CEO Matt Wadhwani said having this additional land in trust will help as they move forward with their development plans with Skip Technology, though he said not all of it is on trust lands.
”When it's in trust, we can self-regulate and get buildings up much quicker. And also, there's a tax benefit, which is a huge, nice advantage,” he said.
Skip Tech co-founder Ben Brown said they’re looking forward to handing off the manufacturing piece to the tribe and “tremendously excited” about their future together.
“Their investment is a lot more than just the dollars that they have put into us. It is also their relationships with us, their membership on our board,” he said.
“They're working with us on federal grants. We are writing and submitting jointly together to try and build manufacturing facilities on their tribal lands. It's the growing partnership together. That has been has been really invigorating and fantastic.”
As the tribe expands its economic development portfolio, the trust designation is a huge help. Congressman Derek Kilmer, who was one of the bill’s champions, spoke on the House floor as he urged his colleagues to join him in supporting the Puyallup Tribe’s Land into Trust Confirmation Act, saying it will ensure that the federal government upholds its trust and treaty obligations.
“It's not just about land. It's about enabling the Puyallup Tribe to further diversify and expand economic opportunities to spur job creation at the Port of Tacoma, and along the Tacoma waterfront,” Kilmer said. “A vision of prosperity that benefits not only the tribe, but the entire South Puget Sound region.”
Along with supporting the partnership with Skip Technology, the additional trust lands will bolster the Puyallups’ long-standing efforts to develop a container terminal and the only tribally-run deep-water port in the country.
Allowing himself to dream big, Wadhwani said that the terminal could eventually provide passage for the new batteries to be shipped out to rural places that may need them the most, all around the world.
“The potential is there,” he said. “I want to be rational about it. But the upside here is very significant. It was well worth the risk to buy into Skip Tech.”
Other recent economic development initiatives launched by the Puyallup Tribe since 2020 include the opening of its new Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, a partnership with Amazon.com on a sorting center in Fife and its joint-venture with Kenmore Air to operate Seaplanes from the tribe’s property.
