From the left, Cody Two Bears, founder and executive director of Indigenous Energy Initiative; Eddie Tamayo, senior technical trainer for Tesla; and Three Affiliated Tribes councilman Fred Fox are shown in this photo by Karen LoneFight.

WHITE SHIELD — New homes for veterans being built in White Shield will have the first ever Tesla Powerwall+ solar system in the state.

Councilman Fred Fox, of the East Segment of the Three Affiliated Tribes, brought Elon Musk’s Tesla Powerwall+ to assist the power structure of the new veterans’ homes. The four duplexes to house eight veterans and their families are nearly finished.

Fred Fox, a U.S. Navy veteran who has worked to take care of veterans in his community, partnered with Indigenous Energy Initiative (IEI) a nonprofit that wants to bring solar to tribes. IEI utilizes grants, foundations or helps tribes write their plans.

Cody Two Bears, founder and executive director of IEI, said, “It’s the plans that have to be laid out to get federal monies.” Two Bears is from the Standing Rock Reservation.

IEI oversees the contractors and facilitates further assistance with other projects. One of IEI’s success stories is Native Brother Services, which took the solar installer training on the Standing Rock Reservation.

Daylon Fox is CEO and project manager for Native Brother Services, the contractor for the White Shield project. He lives in Bismarck and is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Fox said they recently finished installing a 97-panel system on the college in New Town so this project just fell their way.