Sustainable Electrification, One GRID at a Time
Schneider Electric and GRID Alternatives’ long-standing partnership is rooted in a mutual ambition to electrify the world in a sustainable way. As GRID Alternatives has grown into the nation’s largest non-profit solar installer, valued partners, like Schneider Electric, have been there along the way offering critical support to GRID’s mission of making renewable energy technology and job training accessible to all.
Since 2013, GRID has completed over 2,000 solar installation projects using purchased and donated Schneider equipment. This equates to over seven megawatts of clean, renewable energy installed, which will offset over 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and result in $44.3 million in long-term savings for communities on the frontlines of climate change.
Additionally, Schneider employees have been participating in hands-on installation opportunities with GRID for nearly a decade. Through employees generously volunteering their free time or participating in a Schneider sponsored workday opportunity, almost 900 hours have been contributed to solar installation projects in underserved communities. Across California and Colorado, these projects will generate over $250,000 in long-term savings and prevent 3,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite not being able to join GRID on the roof in-person in 2020, Schneider continued their support by instead sponsoring a job training cohort in GRID’s Colorado office. With safety measures in place, six Installation Basics Training (IBT) 200 trainees received hands-on and classroom-based solar installation training to prepare for careers in the growing solar industry. IBT 200 is an industry-accredited program that so far has launched in three of GRID’s affiliate offices. This was the first cohort to take place in GRID’s Colorado office, which is the latest office to begin offering the training program.