GRID Alternatives, U.S.’s largest non-profit solar installer, joined President Obama and over 300 other companies, organizations and public agencies in making major new commitments to deploy renewable energy. In support of the Obama administration’s national renewable energy goals, GRID Alternatives committed to help install 100 MW of solar power on affordable single-family and multifamily homes across the country by 2024. As part of this effort, GRID Alternatives also announced a new Tribal Solar Initiative to ensure that American Indian tribes across the US have access to the benefits of solar power.

GRID Alternatives meets obama's challenge with major low-income solar commitment and will install 100MW of PV system by 2024. (Photo Credit: Facebook Page of GRID Alternatives)

“We’re thrilled to see the President taking so much leadership around solar deployment,” said Erica Mackie, CEO and Co-founder of GRID Alternatives, who participated in the presidential announcement in Mountain View on May 9^th. “We will continue to work with the administration to ensure that our most economically vulnerable and underserved communities are included in our nation’s transition to clean energy.”

GRID Alternatives has been installing solar power and providing job training in low-income communities in California since 2004, and now serves Colorado and the New York tri-state area as well. The organization also manages California’s SASH program, the single-family component of the state’s groundbreaking $324 million low-income solar program.

For low-income families who went solar with GRID Alternatives in 2012, the energy cost savings is money they can spend on basic necessities like food and school supplies for their children. Solar also means affordable electricity to power basic life-sustaining medical equipment; solar can additionally mean help getting back on track after Superstorm Sandy.

GRID Alternatives also provides a “classroom on the roof” for solar job trainees across the country. The organization works with more than 70 community colleges and job training programs, including the SunShot Solar Installer Training Network highlighted by the President today, helping trainees get the real-word experience they need to translate training into jobs. GRID Alternatives also partners with AmeriCorps to provide service learning opportunities that help bring young people into renewable energy careers.

“Today’s solar commitments mean more jobs, many of them in installation, which can’t be outsourced,” said Mackie. “GRID Alternatives is helping provide a pipeline of trained installers for the rapidly growing solar industry and a pathway to good jobs for people who need them most.”