People visiting the project site
Fresno has long struggled with environmental, health, and economic issues and several of its historic neighborhoods have some of the highest concentrations of poverty and air pollution in the nation. The Transform Fresno initiative, with $66.5 million in Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) investments, allowed a broad group of stakeholders to collaborate on an integrated suite of projects meant to reduce disparities in these neighborhoods.
Energy efficiency and solar energy programs reducing air pollution and GHGs are integral to the project, and enable residents to save money on their energy bills and benefit from on-the-job training leading to local employment opportunities in clean energy. GRID Alternatives Central Valley and the Fresno Economic Alternatives Commission (Fresno EOC) operate these programs collaboratively.
GRID Alternatives offers two programs benefiting low-income families as part of Transform Fresno – one for single-family homes, and the other on multi-family buildings. GRID’s multi-family initiative will install solar panels on five Fresno Housing Authority Buildings while their single-family initiative will install solar panels on 60 homes in southwest Fresno. GRID also partners with Fresno Center for New Americans and Stone Soup Fresno to provide monthly energy efficiency workshops and classes, and conduct outreach to help others qualify for these incentives.
Fresno EOC is installing energy efficiency and solar water heating on 170 single-family homes in Southwest Fresno, and will assess, design, and install solar panels on 135 single-family homes. Both EOC and GRID are providing technical support throughout the warranty period.
Solar job training for residents is a transformative component of these programs. Through its multi-family and single-family initiatives, GRID and EOC will train over 200 people opening doors for those facing barriers to employment.
“There's a lot of people that don't want to give us a second chance and that's [one] thing I like about GRID Alternatives” says Luther Mays, a GRID Alternatives Central Valley Solar Trainee. “I’m gaining specific skills. Now I know how to lay out an array, how to drill down for the rafters. We learned about skip sheeting. It’s fun work.”
These projects by GRID and EOC account for more than half of the estimated GHG emissions reductions from the Transform Fresno project.