La familia Salazar

Rose Salazar and her family live in Tulare, California, in GRID Alternatives’ Central Valley service area. Like many income-qualified households in the region, the Salazars qualified for a no-cost solar and battery storage system through GRID’s DAC-SASH program, with additional support from SCE’s Charge Ready Home program and SGIP’s equity budget.

What stood out to Rose most was how smoothly the process went. She described being impressed that GRID’s team had everything lined up for inspection, without the long wait times she’d expected. The installation gave the Salazar household both solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall battery, pairing everyday savings with backup power.

That battery storage does more than back up a few hours of power — it makes the Salazar home more resilient. As extreme heat, wildfires, and storms put growing strain on California’s grid, income-qualified households are often the most exposed to the outages that follow. With a battery paired with their solar system, the Salazars can keep essentials like lights, refrigeration, and medical equipment running when the power goes out around them.

Rose has since encouraged her own family members and friends to look into the program, telling them to “at least give it a try and find out if you qualify or not.” One of her friends was so inspired that they asked Rose for GRID’s phone number — a word-of-mouth ripple that’s exactly the kind of community-driven growth GRID is built on.