SunPower brings holiday cheer and solar savings to CA families under renewed partnership

The holidays came early for three California families this year. Over the past month, three teams of SunPower employee volunteers came out to install solar for families in Richmond, Salinas, and Hawaiian Gardens, kicking off a renewed partnership with GRID.

Under the partnership, SunPower will donate more than two megawatts of solar panels to GRID over the next three years, providing enough solar to help power approximately 550 homes and provide job training opportunities in underserved communities. SunPower's investment will help support our Solar Futures program, which provides both classroom and hands-on solar training to K-14 students.

SunPower employees will also volunteer on GRID projects across the country under the partnership, and they’ve already hit the ground running. In Salinas, volunteers helping bring solar to the Vargas family also had the opportunity to demonstrate their newly acquired installation skills when a group of local students from John Muir Charter School came out to observe the install. That project, along with the two others completed by SunPower volunteers in the last month, will result in a combined lifetime savings of nearly $100,000 for the three families.

"We're so grateful to have a long-time partner like SunPower that shares our vision of an inclusive clean energy transition," said GRID Alternatives co-founder and CEO Erica Mackie. "SunPower's multi-year commitment allows us to continue growing our work nationally, helping underserved communities across the country access the clean power, financial savings and career opportunities solar provides."

SunPower has been a GRID Alternatives supporter since 2006, and a major equipment partner since 2012. Nearly 1000 households have gone solar through the partnership to-date. SunPower employees have also volunteered nearly 3,800 hours of their time to install solar for low-income families.