The largest local nonprofit solar panel installer is the Los Angeles chapter of Oakland-based Grid Alternatives, which has offices throughout California, Colorado and the mid-Atlantic region. Downtown-based Homeboy Industries also has a nonprofit solar installation program, with the main focus on workforce training.

"Potter's Lane is an innovative community, and we're proud to be installing multifamily solar for the veterans who live here," said Michael Kadish, executive director of GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles.

"Wells Fargo is proud to partner with American Family Housing and GRID Alternatives to provide energy savings for our veterans and to invest in career pathways to green technology jobs," said Marcia Choo, vice president, Wells Fargo Community Relations.

GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit solar energy installer and job trainer, will install solar panels over the newly constructed carports at Potter's Lane.

It also offers immediate housing to disaster-struck communities and may be a solution for the homeless in Los Angeles.

Still, a negative perception of felons within the solar industry — and society broadly — is a major barrier, according to Adewale OgunBadejo, a workforce development manager with Grid Alternatives in greater Los Angeles.

The workers on today's installation are retirees, veterans, formerly incarcerated people, at-risk youth, and others seeking to transition into green energy jobs.

Our upcoming season of "Earth Focus" examines how communities are transitioning and adapting from different energy sources and how the laws of supply and demand affect the environment and people in different ways.

An enormous urban and suburban area of freeway and refineries, greater Los Angeles holds many more environmentally-disadvantaged zones than any other county in the state.

On the outer skirts of Los Angeles County, solar power is generating the growth of green jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals. A partnership between Homeboy Industries and GRID Alternatives offers training that helps people pivot into solar careers, while promoting environmental justice and transitioning underserved communities into cleaner energy.