We're joining President Obama and over 300 other companies, organizations and public agencies in making major new commitments to deploy renewable energy. In support of the Obama administration’s national renewable energy goals, we're committing to help install 100 MW of solar power on affordable single-family and multifamily homes across the country by 2024.
“We’re thrilled to see the President taking so much leadership around solar deployment,” said Erica Mackie, CEO and Co-founder of GRID Alternatives, who participated in the presidential announcement in Mountain View. “We will continue to work with the administration to ensure that our most economically vulnerable and underserved communities are included in our nation’s transition to clean energy.”
For low-income families like Floricel and Arturo Martinez, California Central Valley farmworkers who went solar with us in 2012, the energy cost savings is money they can spend on basic necessities like food and school supplies for their children. For the Herrera-Vallejo family in Roseville, CA, solar means affordable electricity to power their child’s life-sustaining medical equipment, and for Joyln Bright in New Jersey, solar means help getting back on track after Superstorm Sandy. These are families that, without support from both the private and public sectors, would not be able to benefit from solar technology.
We're also commited to keeping our “classroom on the roof” volunteer model for solar job trainees across the country. We work with more than 70 community colleges and job training programs, including the SunShot Solar Installer Training Network highlighted by the President, helping trainees get the real-word experience they need to translate training into jobs. GRID Alternatives also partners with AmeriCorps to provide service learning opportunities that help bring young people into renewable energy careers.
“Today’s solar commitments mean more jobs, many of them in installation, which can’t be outsourced,” said Mackie. “GRID Alternatives is helping provide a pipeline of trained installers for the rapidly growing solar industry and a pathway to good jobs for people who need them most.”