A cheer went up as Enphase employee volunteers finished installing the tenth and final solar electric system at the Mt. Burdell Habitat for Humanity development in Novato, California. From their second-story vantage point, glinting solar panels were visible from each of the surrounding rooftops.
The volunteers were on site with GRID to finish work started at the Bay Area Solarthon the month prior, when nearly 100 volunteers--including another Enphase team--came together to install solar on the other nine homes in the 10-unit development. The families will move into their new homes upon their completion in spring 2017 and benefit from significantly reduced electricity bills right away.
“This was my first time volunteering with GRID Alternatives and I had a blast while learning a lot,” said volunteer Chick Peterson. “As an Enphase software engineer, it’s very helpful to get to participate in and learn from this very different part of our industry – where the rubber meets the road, so to speak.”
Since 2010, Enphase has partnered with GRID to bring the benefits of solar power to underserved communities through microinverter donations and employee volunteerism. The Mount Burdell installation marks the sixth installation project Enphase volunteers have completed with GRID Alternatives in 2016, donating over 460 hours of their time to help bring solar power to families in their community.