CCR Volunteers with GRID Alternatives in San Francisco Work Day

Earlier this month, Cypress Creek Renewables’ San Francisco office joined forces with GRID Alternatives to install a residential rooftop solar system for the Wu family. Our team of volunteers cut rails, bent conduit, ran cabling and secured micro inverters to give the Wu’s direct access to renewable energy.

Cypress Creek team members get to work on installing the solar array.

The 11 module, 3 kilowatt system is expected to save the Wu family about $600 annually in electricity costs, generating almost $30,000 in energy savings, as well as reducing the Wu family’s carbon footprint by 58 tons over the solar project’s lifetime.

Divya Singh and Sarah Starr carry a panel to be installed.

Cypress Creek Renewables is committed to widespread access to affordable, renewable energy and we see our volunteer opportunities with Grid Alternatives as an important way to carry out our company’s mission. GRID Alternatives was founded in 2001 to make solar photovoltaic technology practical and accessible for low-income communities that need the savings and jobs the most, yet have the least access. By taking a broader approach to solar as not just an environmental good but also a real-world solution to a real-world economic problem in these communities, GRID Alternatives has helped to set the stage for large-scale solar adoption nationwide. GRID Alternatives has offices across the United States, including in California, Colorado and New York.

Caroline Whittinghill, Karen Lee, and Andrew Sundling hard at work at the Grid Alternatives work day.

To date, GRID Alternatives has installed more than 9,000 solar systems that are generating a lifetime savings of more than $300 million.

Karen Lee, a development engineer in Cypress Creek Renewables’ San Francisco office, said this about her experience participating in the GRID Alternatives work day, “The GRID Alternatives build day was a very rewarding experience to connect with coworkers outside of the office, take positive action for the local community, and participate in all the steps of a residential solar install. I think we all enjoyed being outside together and being involved in the hands-on work.”