Construction is underway on the Fresno Disadvantaged Community (DAC) Solar Farm. The largest shared solar challenge for deprived communities in California can be the primary utility-scale solar farm inside Fresno.
The 10 MW system will present energy-cost financial savings on to qualifying low-income residents underneath Pacific Gas & Electric‘s (PG&E) Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff (DAC-GT) Program. An in depth collaboration between White Pine Renewables and the City of Fresno made the challenge doable.
“The Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm is the perfect case study of ensuring equity in the new green economy through public-private partnerships that benefit all Fresno residents. In short, it’s the type of solar development where everyone wins,” says Member Miguel Arias, town council member representing for District 3 the place the challenge is situated.
Qualified low-income residents of Fresno will save 20% on their energy payments when subscribed to the Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm. PG&E routinely subscribes qualifying prospects.
The solar power plant is situated on an underutilized 76-acre parcel owned by the City of Fresno. Operations are anticipated to start by the tip of this 12 months. Once full, the system will include greater than 25,000 solar panels, which is able to produce sufficient energy to power roughly 2,700 properties.
Former metropolis council member Larry Westerlund initiated the challenge. In tandem with the groundbreaking, the challenge’s proprietor, AB CarVal, and its developer, White Pine Renewables, partnered with GRID Alternatives Central Valley, a solar non-profit, to offer a free solar set up coaching course and job truthful to native low-income jobseekers, a few of whom stay in Southwest Fresno.
Nearly 70% of the contributors in GRID’s program have already secured jobs with AB CarVal and White Pine’s regional set up subcontractors and different native solar firms. Several graduates are actually employed on the Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm, the place all staff obtain a neighborhood prevailing wage.
“We are tremendously grateful to our many partners for their support and creativity in this deeply collaborative, multi-faceted initiative,” says Evan Riley, co-founder of White Pine Renewables. “The Fresno DAC Community Solar Farm is the first project of its kind in California, but it will not be the last. Our collective success has yielded a blueprint for White Pine to develop equitable utility-scale community solar projects across the state.”
