On November 18, a group of bipartisan California elected officials joined Dimension Energy to celebrate the launch of the first ever community solar project in the Central Valley. Joe Henri of Dimension Energy was joined by Senator Anna Caballero, Assemblymember Devon Mathis, the California Energy Commission’s Raja Ramesh, and Community Organizer Melynda Metheney in front of a solar array located just 10 minutes from downtown Visalia to tout the many benefits of community solar for valley residents.
“Dimension Energy is proud to bring an affordable energy solution to residents of the Central Valley,” said Joe Henri of Dimension Energy. “We hope this is only the beginning. We envision a real, functioning community solar and storage program throughout the state of California that will empower more farmers and landowners to host these facilities, preserving agricultural land within families, while creating jobs and generating clean energy locally.”
The Visalia project is one of three new pilot community solar initiatives in the Central Valley developed by Dimension Energy as part of the state’s Disadvantaged Communities Green Tariff (DAC-GT) program. The other two projects from this pilot program are in Corcoran and Lemoore. The three projects will provide clean solar electricity for over 3,700 low-income valley residents at a 20% discount, saving families an average of $40 per month.
Dimension worked hard to ensure that the benefits of each project were localized by partnering with trusted, community organizations like Proteus and Self Help Enterprises to bring affordable, clean energy to the residents who need it most, and by sponsoring workforce development programs that create opportunities for quality jobs with each project. Per the latest available census data, Tulare County is 50% non-English speaking: A significant portion of residents enrolled were Spanish-speakers, and all of Dimension’s community partners were Spanish-speaking as well.
The DAC-GT program ended earlier this year, making these pilot community solar projects the first and last of their kind. Ideally, the projects will serve as a model to the CPUC as it considers how to deploy $250 million in Solar For All funds allocated by the Environmental Protection Agency this spring. The federal funds provide an opportunity to kick start the creation of an expanded community solar program statewide.
Speakers at the event emphasized the added benefits for families in the Central Valley if the PUC deploys a majority of federal funds this fall to expand community solar across the state.
“This is an exciting and innovative project that will help thousands of Valley families to pay less on their electric bill. But as exciting as this project is, it will help less than 1% of the more than 2.4 million California households who can’t put solar panels on their rooftops because of the cost or because they are renters,” said Senator Anna Caballero. “We need more projects like this to help the state’s millions of renters in need of relief from their high utility bills. California needs to do better. We can do better.”
News item from Dimension Energy
