The North Valley office is pleased to announce that our first installation was a success! With the help of our volunteers and solar construction staff we installed our first system for the Metzger family in Chico on October 29th 2011.
Our community housing partner CHIP was on site and members of CHIP staff contributed their hard work as volunteers! Since its inception in 1981, CHIPs Self-Help Program has assisted over 1,600 households in the counties of Butte, Tehama, Shasta, Sutter, Glenn, and Lassen, to achieve their dream of home ownership. By utilizing the mutual self-help method of construction, households partner together to build their homes with the technical assistance provided by CHIP construction supervisors. In this way CHIPs model mirrors GRID Alternatives. CHIP has assisted our office in identifying clients and integrating with the community here in Chico and the surrounding regions.
Our volunteers for the project came from the Chico area and some volunteers traveled from Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, and Modesto. We appreciate their dedication and look forward to working with them in the future. The Metzger family provided an excellent breakfast and lunch for both installation days and were pleased with their new 4.7 kW solar electric system. The installation should save the Metzger family $24,000 over the lifetime of the system and prevent 140 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
As an office we were pleased to put GRID Alternatives model into action in Northern California. This is the first of many solar systems we will be installing in the region.
Overall the installation was a great learning experience for everyone and we look forward to continue to utilize solar power to help homeowners in the North Valley. We intend to continue to show that solar power can be a practical solution for building more sustainable communities.
Check out photos from the install here.