Job Training

Think Progress - New Program Will Make D.C. A Leader On Renewable Energy

By the year 2032, half of D.C.'s energy will be from renewable energy, as required by the new Renewable Portfolio Standard signed into law today by DC Mayor Bowser.  At least 5 percent of this clean energy will be from solar, with a program that will allow 100,000 low-income residents to benefit from solar energy-savings by 2032. 

DC.Gov - Mayor Bowser Signs Renewable Portfolio Standard Bill into Law

Today, Mayor Bowser of the District of Columbia signed the Renewable Portfolio Standard Expansion Act of 2016 into Law. This legislation, which was introduced by Councilmember Cheh and unanimously passed by the Council, will simultaneously increase the use of clean energy in DC, bring clean energy and energy savings to 100,000 low-income homeowners by the year 2032, and will create hundreds of clean energy jobs each year. 

Team Leader Challenge: Accepted!!!
GRID Alternatives Central Coast is pleased to announce the certification of 4 new team leaders working to install solar for low income families. The Team Leader program was developed for “super volunteers” – volunteers who attend repeated solar installations with our team- working towards mastery of a checklist of installation skills. It takes time, patience and dedication to achieve team leader status and these solar hotshots have certainly earned their coveted orange shirts!

Women Veterans Take on a Mission for Solar in Sacramento
On a sunny Saturday morning in June, five women came together to volunteer in a South Sacramento neighborhood by installing a solar array. Many of them had never met one another or the homeowner they served, but they were all held together by a common bond: each of these women, along with GRID Outreach Coordinator Kim Garrett, comes from a background of military service.

Bringing Together the Baltimore Community
"Gramma can you believe it? You got solar panels!" squealed eight-year old Diamond as her grandmother looked through pictures of the solar array that was just installed on her roof. Diamond's grandmother, Ida, heard about GRID Alternatives when its offices were only located on the West Coast and waited patiently for years hoping GRID would come to this area. Now that GRID Alternatives has a Mid-Atlantic Regional office in DC, Ida was finally able to get solar on her Baltimore home. People from the Baltimore community came together to make this installation happen: local volunteers, GRID Solar Corps fellows and staff members, AmeriCorps Members from Civic Works' Baltimore Energy Challenge program, and Ida's family members all had a hand in this project. This solar installation was one of the first of many to take place in Baltimore, a result of the shared mission and collaboration of multiple organizations.

GRID Welcomes GZEP!
All of a sudden, Mr. Evans jumped out of his chair. “I’m gonna go look at the solar panels on my house!” he said excitedly, as he ran out the door, surprisingly quick for someone over seventy years old. Participants of the Green Zone Environmental Program (GZEP) job training group had just completed the solar installation on Mr. Evans’ home and were enjoying a well-deserved break with the hot dogs and hamburgers that Mr. Evans had prepared. Everyone put down their plates and followed Mr. Evans, who was already at the top of the ladder peering out from under his hard hat at his roof. “Man, this is really something!” he said. Everyone grinned, glad that they had pleased the spritely Mr. Evans, a DC homeowner by the Anacostia River. GRID Alternatives is excited to welcome 15 GZEP job trainees to our team for six weeks!