Teachers team up with non-profit to install solar panels

On Tuesday morning, Imelda Ramos witnessed something she had never seen before — an alternative energy demonstration.

Intently, she watched as her energy meter began a slow backwards spin, demonstrating an excess of power rather than a usage estimate.

The Ramos family is one of a number of Porterville families who had their traditional energy systems replaced by rooftop solar panels this week. The systems are worth thousands, but cost them nothing.

Funding for the installations comes from the $108 million dollar budget of the Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) Program, part of the California Solar Initiative, a statewide program launched in 2007.

The installation of the system on the Ramos home also provided an opportunity for four Porterville High School teachers to learn about solar energy installation — something they will pass to PHS students, allowing them to gain entry into the growing alternative energy field.

“Anybody can be successful doing this,” Tom Reed, an instructor with the PHS Alternative Energy Related Occupations Academy, said. “The feeling is there’s going to be a lot of jobs and careers in solar energy.”

He and other Tulare County teachers worked with trained electricians from GRID Alternatives with the installation.

The installation, which involved a collaboration between Fresno-based non-profit organization GRID Alternatives and local community members, included placing an inverter box on the inner wall of the garage, a disconnect on the outer wall next to the meter (to turn off the system if necessary), and the central installation — a wide swath of solar panels across a single side of the house’s sloped roof.

According to GRID outreach coordinator Lauren Cobb, the installation on the Ramos’ home would typically have cost about $20,000.

The Ramos family was one of two families in the southeast Casas Buena Vista subdivision to respond to initial efforts by GRID to contact homeowners for potential installations.

To be eligible for the subsidized installations residents must own their home, receive electric service from Southern California Edison or certain other energy companies, and have a household income at or below 50 percent of the area median income.

Because the Ramos family qualified, they won’t be charged a penny for their system. In fact, according to Fairbanks, if the family’s energy usage doesn’t match the energy produced by the solar system, the extra energy will turn a profit for them as Southern California Edison purchases the excess.

Ramos said her first reaction to the GRID’s initial information was related to the environment.

“This can help the planet,” she said in Spanish.

Ramos said she also read in the literature distributed by GRID that more than 75 percent of her energy bill could be eliminated by the solar power.

Her 4-year-old son, Daniel Ramos, wandered in and out of the garage clutching a large rubber ball as the installation progressed.

“He wants to help, too,” Imelda Ramos joked.

As the workers handed the unwieldy panels up to their counterparts on the roof, other neighborhood residents gathered around the residence to find out what the commotion was about.

Baldemar Sierra, who is currently unemployed, said he sees training in alternative energies as a good career skill.

“I’m here because I want to learn,” he said.

Additionally, he was interested in the installations taking place in the neighborhood because his mother owns a house nearby.

“It’s a great opportunity to save money and energy,” he said.

The roof installation, made up of 22 individual solar panels linked together, requires little care besides a biannual cleaning with a garden hose, Fairbanks told Ramos after the installation was complete.

GRID outreach coordinator Alicia Bohigian said she is currently working with five more families in the neighborhood, all of whom expressed interest in the project after seeing the Ramos’ installation.

She said people often think the installation offers are “too good to be true” because of the expense involved.

“Once they see their neighbors have qualified and get a system, they become more trusting, I think,” Bohigian said.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.