GRID Alternatives, a California non-profit organization dedicated to bringing solar energy systems to low-income homeowners, will install 1 megawatt of donated residential solar panels this year and train thousands of green workers thanks to a new partnership with Yingli Green Energy Americas.

GRID Alternatives started in 2004 with grants from the California Department of Energy and other donations with the mission of helping low-income homeowners in California install solar panels and of helping to train new solar industry workers.

“We’re essentially installing these solar panels in a barn-raising method,” said Lara Edge, spokeswoman for GRID. “It’s kind of like Habitat for Humanity, where the homeowners are asked to participate.”

The nonprofit has successfully installed 1.8 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels on 800 individual homes and trained 5,800 solar workers since its inception in 2004, Edge said.

The new partnership with Yingli will increase those numbers by more than 50 percent in a single year.

The solar energy systems are expected to generate more than $10 million of clean energy over their life spans.

“This donation is huge,” she said. “You can see how it will make a pretty big impact,” Edge said.

She said that GRID has six offices and is about to open a seventh where the outreach directors are responsible for finding low-income homeowners.

“And then they can literally go door to door and ask if people are interested in participating,” Edge said.

Low-income is classified as a family that makes between 50 and 80 percent of the median income in a given county.

“That number can vary a lot,” Edge said. “Low-income looks a lot different in different areas.”

The average residential solar project that the organization helps to install will produce 75 to 100 percent of the home’s energy needs.

“Of course, we try not to speak in terms of percentages too often, because it depends on each family’s energy use,” Edge said.

In addition to providing the solar panels, helping with the paperwork and installing the complete system, the organization conducts an energy audit to help homeowners make their homes more efficient so they will be able to take greater advantage of their new solar electric systems, Edge said.

“We’d been looking for a partnership like this one with Yingli,” Edge said. “We’re really excited about it.”

Image courtesy of GRID Alternatives.