Building begins on California's largest community solar project for deprived homeowners

• Building has started on the Fresno Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Solar Farm, the largest shared solar project for deprived communities in California and the first utility-scale solar farm within Fresno.

The 10-MW system will certainly provide energy cost savings straight to qualifying low-income homeowners under PG&E's Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff (DAC-GT) Program. The project was made possible by close partnership in between White Pine Renewables and also the City of Fresno.

The Fresno DAC Community Solar Project makes it possible for income-qualified, residential consumers that may be not able to set up solar on their roofing to gain from utility scale clean energy and also get a price cut on their utility bills.

Situated in Council District 3, "The Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm is the perfect case study of making certain equity in the new green economy via public-private partnerships that benefit all Fresno residents. Simply put, it's the type of solar advancement where everybody wins," commented Council Member Miguel Arias.

Qualified low-income homeowners of Fresno will save 20% on their power bills when signed up for the Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm. PG&E immediately subscribes qualifying clients.

The solar power plant is located on an underutilized 76-acre parcel possessed by the City of Fresno. City earnings from the parcel are expected to raise as a result of greater rents from the solar center's drivers.

In tandem with the groundbreaking, the project, started by previous city councilmember Larry Westerlund, with project proprietor AB CarVal and project programmer White Pine Renewables partnering with GRID Alternatives, a solar non-profit, gave a free solar installment training course as well as jobs fair to regional low-income jobseekers, a few of whom reside in Southwest Fresno.

" AB CarVal and also White Pine verified their commitment to comprehensive solar workforce advancement as the key companion for our current training in Fresno," said Karina Gonzalez, co-executive supervisor of GRID Alternatives Central Valley. "Their team promoted for our program's graduates as they looked for employment, as well as job placements have actually much surpassed our assumptions because of this."

Almost 70% of the participants in GRID's program have already secured jobs with AB CarVal and White Pine's regional setup subcontractors and also various other neighborhood solar companies. Several grads are currently utilized at the Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm, where all workers receive a regional prevailing wage.

" We are significantly grateful to our many companions for their support as well as creativity in this deeply collective, multi-faceted initiative," said Evan Riley, Co-Founder of White Pine Renewables. "The Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm is the very first project of its kind in California, yet it will not be the last. Our cumulative success has generated a blueprint for White Pine to create equitable utility-scale community solar projects across the state."

Workflow at the Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm are expected to start by the end of 2023. Once total, the system will contain greater than 25,000 photovoltaic panels which will certainly produce adequate power to power roughly 2,700 homes.