Community organizations partner with Luminalt to cut operations expenses, save programs for local seniors
Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center (Tel-Hi) is a neighborhood center that provides services to youth, seniors, and families. They partnered with One Atmosphere to install solar panels in order to lower their monthly operating expenses and have a positive environmental impact.
Luminalt worked with the Tel-Hi to install a donated 33kW system for the organization, donating labor, engineering, racking, and wiring. Made up of 144 donated SunPower panels, the solar electric system is designed to offset 85% of the center’s energy. This system saves them $500-$600 per month, which goes directly into the programs over 600 people every day. As funding dries up, this extra budget has been essential to maintaining their senior programs, including free lunch, yoga, and arts classes. As Tony Tyson, Director of Programs, explained: “It’s far more difficult to find funding for programs that serve seniors” than funding for other programs.
The system was made possible by generous donations of time and funding from Luminalt, The SunPower Foundation, CAKE, and over 150 individual volunteers throughout the community.
Nestor L. Fernandez II, Executive Director of Tel-Hi, says that “working with Luminalt was absolutely wonderful. I was impressed with the care and thoughtfulness that they gave our project.”
News
- Luminalt led a tour of the solar installation at Tel-Hi for the Union of Concerned Scientists. You can read more about that here.
- Tel-Hi’s system was featured in Photon Magazine, an international solar magazine, in a cover article looking at the California solar industry.
- San Francisco’s Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting presented Luminalt with a Certificate of Honor in recognition of our community service.
