Project

Empowering future generations

For 40 years, the 2,250-megawatt Navajo Generating Station (NGS) powered the Southwest and provided hundreds of stable, family-wage jobs. When NGS closed in 2019, it left a significant economic gap. As energy demand grows, communities are seeking new sources of long-term employment and new infrastructure that can deliver reliable power.

Pumped storage hydropower offers both. This proven technology operates like a gravity-fed water battery, storing excess power in a high-elevation reservoir and delivering that power to the grid when it’s needed most. It is the most common form of energy storage in the United States, and with a century-long lifespan, pumped storage hydro delivers economic benefits to communities for generations.

Project Overview

Page, AZ

Since 2022, Rye Development has worked with Navajo Nation leadership to explore new pumped storage hydro (PSH) on the Navajo Nation.

Over the past few years, Rye and the Navajo Nation have laid important groundwork for potential PSH projects in the western region of the Navajo Nation. A proposed Rye project, Western Navajo 1, located at the former Navajo Generating Station facility, reached a key milestone in July 2025 with the issuance of a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). That permit was possible only with the support of the Navajo Nation Department of Justice.

Project Benefits:

Store electricity for about 8 hours daily

Have a generating capacity of 765 megawatts

Provide enough electricity to power 225,000 homes*

Preserve agricultural, municipal and commercial water uses

*Based on average household energy consumption according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

How It Works

Pumped storage facilities rely on gravity to produce energy. The system moves water between a lower reservoir and an upper reservoir. When energy on the grid is plentiful, this excess energy is used to pump water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. When energy is needed, water is released from the upper reservoir and used to turn hydroelectric turbines to generate on-demand electricity. The system is filled with water once, and then reuses that water, over and over, continually repeating this process.

Project Timeline

  • Feb. 2023

    Navajo Nation invited Rye Development to study pumped storage sites in the western region of the Navajo Nation.

  • March 2024

    Navajo Nation issued Rye a permit to study the potential impacts of the projects.

  • Q1 2025

    With support from the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, Rye submitted a preliminary permit application for Western Navajo 1 to FERC.

  • Q2 2025

    FERC issued a preliminary permit application for Western Navajo 1.*

  • Q2-Q4 2025

    Rye conducted feasibility studies and met with local Navajo Nation chapters and elected officials.

  • 2026

    Feasibility study period

* The preliminary permit does not grant permission to begin construction.