A volunteer crew comprised of employees from sponsoring companies Enphase, Mounting Systems and JinkoSolar, installed the system which will produce over 40,000 kWh of clean electricity annually and save Wildlife Associates a quarter of a million dollars throughout its 25-year lifetime.
Today Everybody Solar announced that it has fully installed a 27 kW solar array for fellow nonprofit Wildlife Associates. With the help of 20 employees from Enphase, JinkoSolar and Mounting Systems, three of the project sponsors, and training and supervision provided by nonprofit installer SunWork Renewable Energy Projects, the system is up and running and will produce over 40,000 kilowatt-hours of clean energy annually.
Everybody Solar announced in March that it had successfully met its fundraising goal of $78,500 to complete the project through its crowdsourcing portal, along with equipment donations of Enphase M250 inverters plus monitoring, JinkoSolar 305W modules and Mounting Systems Alpha racking. A $30,000 grant from the All Points North Foundation, a small, private foundation that supports projects that promote solar energy awareness and implementation, pushed the campaign past the finish line.
“It was truly a team effort to crowdsource the components, design, engineering, and installation of this solar project for Wildlife Associates,” said Youness Scally, Executive Director of Everybody Solar. “Wildlife Associates cares for non-releasable wild animals that provide an essential community service as ‘Wild Teachers’ traveling to schools and teaching kids about wildlife and natural resource conservation. Before this project, the organization would pay $9,000 a year to power its wildlife sanctuary, which houses 50 animals. With the new solar array, that amount will shrink to approximately $1,000 a year for the next 25 years. This significant savings will benefit the community and help fund future programs to make a bigger impact.”
“All of us at Wildlife Associates are simply thrilled to have this magnificent solar array not only for the substantial financial savings, but also for the important educational opportunity it presents. The nearly 80,000 Bay Area students who experience our science education programs in schools each year will now learn not only about wildlife and environmental stewardship but also about clean energy and the importance of solar power,” noted Bruce Holaday, Director of Wildlife Associates.
There will be an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the scenic Wildlife Associates sanctuary on August 15, 2015 to celebrate the new solar array.
