Enphase Energy announced to help GRID Alternatives provide rooftop solar installations and hands-on job training in low-income communities across the United States. The agreement will help drive an estimated 3MW of new capacity, save 900 families $25 million in energy costs over the systems’ lifetimes, and prevent 78,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Over the last six years, Enphase has partnered with GRID to bring the benefits of solar power to underserved communities through in-kind microinverter system donations and employee volunteer installation hours. Since 2010, the partnership has helped install over 1,900 rooftop arrays with a cumulative capacity of nearly 6MW across California, Colorado, New York, and New Jersey; saving $50 million in lifetime power costs and preventing 150,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
“Enphase’s expanded donation in 2015 represents a nearly 50% increase in our partnership’s cumulative impact to date,” said Tim Sears, CFO and co-founder of GRID Alternatives. “This partnership has already helped bring the benefits of clean energy to families and workers across the country, and continues to grow with us as we expand to serve more communities and explore new ways to deliver solar’s benefits to people that need it most.”
The Enphase-GRID partnership is best shown in the Hollyhock development of Sebastopol, California. Twenty-four of 29 homes in the mutual self-help affordable housing community have received rooftop systems since 2012, with 125 Enphase volunteers logging over 1,000 hours to install 55 kW of rooftop arrays. Enphase also donated microinverters for GRID Alternatives’ first community solar array in Colorado this year.
“Continuing our partnership with GRID Alternatives exemplifies Enphase’s commitment to putting clean, affordable energy on rooftops across America,” said Jeff Loebbaka, senior vice president of global sales, marketing and support for Enphase. “We’re also proud to play a role in the job training of underserved communities who otherwise may not be able to join the transition to clean energy.”
