Finale Proposal
Seth Byle
December 13, 2024
Proposal Executive Summary:
Here at Grid Alternatives, we are proposing that the officials at the Kresge Foundation should provide us with a 1.9-million-dollar grant. We are a non-profit organization that has a long history of installing solar panels for underprivileged communities and low-income households.
The reason we are asking you for this grant, is because we are planning on installing a one-megawatt solar farm in Lake County Michigan. This is the poorest county in Michigan, with an average household income of just below twenty-four-thousand dollars per year. The average energy bill in Lake County is $111 per month. In addition to being the most underprivileged county in the state, it also has the state’s longest history of coal-based energy, having started using coal since 1923 and finally closing the plant in 2022, ninety-nine years of the most carbon inducing form of energy. While it no longer uses this plant, it now uses natural gas, which is better than coal, but still produces carbon emissions. Installing this solar farm would help to reduce energy bills, which would allow residents to save more money and invest for their future, as well as help them make up for lost time in the fight against climate change.
We have completed a number of high-profile projects including the CSD Santa Rosa Community Solar Project, where we received a two-million dollar grant from the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), and used that money to install a one-megawatt solar farm in the Santa Rosa Community. Since then, we have completed many more projects, and installed more than twenty-two-thousand systems, nearly one-hundred-thousand kilowatts, saved residents more than seven-hundred-thousand dollars in energy bills, prevented more than four-million tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and trained more than fifty-thousand participants.
If we can complete this project, we could potentially save the residents of Lake County an estimated seven-million dollars in energy bills, and prevent seventeen-thousand tons of carbon emissions within a twenty-five-year timespan. Unfortunately, solar installation isn’t cheap, which is why we need your generous support. The installation of this system will cost us roughly 1.9 million dollars, but with your support, we could make economic justice and environment justice a reality for Lake County Michigan.
Our Background/Mission:
We were founded in 2001 during the California Energy Crisis and installed our first household solar system in 2004. We believe that everyone should have access to clean and affordable energy, and our mission is to deliver both economic and environmental justice for low-income households and communities.
Our Programs and Services:
We provide three main services: individual family installations, multiple-family installations, and community-wide installations.
Single-family installations are designed for one household.
Multiple-family installations serve two or more households.
Community-wide installations target broader areas such as tribes, towns, villages, or small communities.
We have been especially active in supporting residents on reservations, helping bring sustainable energy solutions to historically underserved populations.
How We Compare to Other Organizations:
While there are other organizations that train individuals to install solar panels, fund solar installations, or conduct research to advance solar technology, we stand out by actively installing solar systems ourselves for low-income communities. This focus allows us to fill an important and underserved niche in the renewable energy space.
Our Service to Community:
We have delivered transformative benefits to many communities:
Installed over 20,000 solar systems.
Saved communities more than $7 billion in energy expenses.
Prevented more than 4 million tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted.
Trained over 50,000 workers in the field.
Our efforts have brought meaningful change, positioning us as a leader in providing clean energy solutions to underserved populations.
Oversight:
Our organization is overseen by a Board of Directors composed of individuals with diverse expertise. Members bring qualifications in areas like engineering, environmental science, and renewable energy. Many also have experience working with other organizations in the field, such as the Environment & Natural Resources Practice Group.
Past Funding:
We have been supported by a variety of funding sources, including the Department of Energy, the California Public Utilities Commission, the Energy Foundation, the California Endowment, Sunrun, SolarCity, Sunnova, and Vivint Solar. These partnerships have allowed us to continue making clean energy accessible to communities in need.
Problem Statement:
According to the NIH, Lake County is the poorest county in Northern Michigan, with a poverty rate of 35 percent and roughly Three-thousand people living in poverty. The average electric bill is $111 dollars per month, and the median income is only twenty-four thousand dollars per year, according to the Census Bureau. Given the low-income people in this county earn, paying bills and making ends meet is a significant struggle for this community to overcome, and energy costs are no exception. Solar panel installation would be a significant relief to these communities.
According to Solar Review, the average solar panel saves households $1,500 per year in energy bills. Unfortunately, solar panels are a hefty investment that most low-income families can’t afford up front, thus making it difficult to save in the long run and get ahead. According to EcoWatch, the average solar panel costs between $6,000 and $12,000 in the state of Michigan. With only $24,000 in average annual income and other bills to pay, this is not a feasible investment for most Luce County citizens to afford.
Poverty isn’t the only problem solar panels can help solve. Being a poor community, Lake County had been using the same coal burning power plant for ninety-nine years, from 1923 until 2022. The county has now switched to a cleaner natural gas power plant, but its still producing carbon emissions and the coal burning planet has still made a lasting environmental impact, coal being well known as the dirtiest form of energy production. According to the IPCC, solar power has a carbon footprint that is twelve times less than natural gas and twenty times less than coal, and according to Roofit Solar, a single rooftop panel can reduce up to four tons of carbon emissions annually. Introducing solar power into the homes of Lake County residents could therefore make up for lost time as a result of past carbon emissions from the old coal plant, as well as reduce current emissions from the natural gas power plant.
Being both the poorest county in Michigan as well as historically one of the least environmentally friendly, makes Lake County an excellent place to implement a solar energy project, and likely the best place in all of Michigan. Savings from the solar energy could then be used by the residents to invest in their futures and get ahead rather than constantly living paycheck to paycheck and stuck under the cruel thumb of intergenerational poverty.
Our Goals for this Project:
The main goal for this project is to produce results in Lake County Michigan, that are on par with or better than the CSD Santa Rosa Community Solar Project. This project raised over two million in funding and saved the Santa Rosa community more than five million dollars in electrical bills, with its nearly one megawatt solar energy system. More than two hundred residents of this community were beneficiaries of this program.
Our Objectives:
The first objective towards this goal will be finding suitable places to install the solar energy systems themselves. Michigan, especially the northern half of the state, is famous for its vast forests, and we want to do as little as possible to damage local ecosystems with the installation of this project. For this, there are two first steps. One step would be local surveys to find individual households that are the most in need for these systems, so they can be installed on their rooftops. Rooftop solar panels do not require clearing out green spaces, making them an environmentally friendly solution. Rooftop panels alone however, may not be enough to complete our large-scale goal, and thus lands will likely still be needed. For this, we will survey the area to look for abandoned farmland, for sale farmland, and abandoned parking lots. We will only resort to clearing green spaces as a final resort.
Once locations have been spotted, the next step will be gaining approval from local authorities to acquire the land in question and begin construction. The next objective from there is to prepare the land for the installation. This would mean evaluating the conditions of the properties in question to see if they have too much vegetation that needs to be cleared, or if the pavement needs to be re-paved or if it’s still in good condition. This may also mean digging channels for water to run off, to prevent erosion and damage to the solar panels.
The next objective would be to select and order panels from distributers. Factors such as of the panels themselves, cost of shipping, efficiency of electrical production, and longevity and ease of maintenance will be considerations when selecting panels to order. After the panels have been ordered and shipped, the next and final step will be the installation of the panels and connecting them to the electrical grid.
How we evaluate our work:
Each of these methods will need to be evaluated to provide feedback on the progresses and successes of these steps. These evaluations will be carried out by our Data Analytics Department’s (DAD) field agents. These are individuals who actively observe the work of all other departments to ensure success in their endeavors. This department will make records of all feedback from all other departments in regards to this project, which we will then provide to the Kresge foundation to ensure them that we’re using their funds to achieve the desired outcomes.
The first methods are finding usable land. The individuals in the Research department will be required to report all of their progress and the ways in which they find said land and where they find said land, to the DAD, as well as the qualities of these properties that make them suitable for solar panel installation, and what kind of work will need to be done to them in preparation for the installation.
The next method is gaining building permits. Our legal department will then send feedback to the DAD after researching various building codes in the given region and what will be needed to gain the building permits. They will then reach out to the local authorities and report back rather or not they could obtain these permits.
The next step is actually purchasing the land needed for the project. For this, the DAD will make a list of the reasons why these specific properties were chosen. This includes things such as, size of the land, cost of the land, and the amount of preparation needed before installation. The DAD will then make records of all purchases.
The next step is preparing the land. For this, DAD field agents will actively monitor and record the work being done via cameras, and carry a checklist of things that need to be done. They will ensure the changes that need to be made, such as removing brush, repaving lots, digging channels, etc, are being done at a rate that will is within our timeframe, as well as evaluate the cost of doing these things to remain within our budget.
The next step is to order materials. For this, the DAD will need to gain feedback from our Research Department and Logistics Department, to make record of why these specific materials are being bought and how much this will cost. This information will be used to ensure that the equality of the materials is to industry standards, and to ensure that we’re staying on budget.
The next step is actually installing the panels themselves. The DAD field agents will again record footage and carry a check list to give information back to our executives and the Kresge foundation. They will evaluate how many panels have been installed, how much time it’s taking to install them, and how much money is being spent installing them.
The final and biggest step in evaluations is the long-term evaluation. For this, the DAD will conduct survey with local energy companies and residents, to see that their electrical bills are reduces. We will also evaluate the amount of natural gas being burned every month, to confirm that carbon emissions are also being reduced. Mathematical calculations will be used to gain official numbers and estimates. This process will continue for the fifty to twenty-five years that the panels will likely be in service.
Expenses and Budget Justification:
The reason we need a 1.9-million-dollar loan is because with solar installation comes a significant amount of expenses that go well beyond the cost of the panels themselves. The expenses involved include the panels, inverters, racking and mounting systems, balance of systems, (Which includes cabling connectors, trenching, and other miscellaneous items), installation and labor, soft costs (Which including permitting and engineering), and finally, land costs. Below is a list of the expenses that need to be covered for the completion of a project of this scale.
| Solar Panels | $400,000 | $0.40 per watt. |
| Inverters | $120,000 | $0.12 per watt. |
| Racking and Mounting System | $200,000 | $0.20 per watt. |
| Balance of System (BoS) Costs | $200,000 | |
| Installation and Labor | $500,000 | $0.50 per watt. |
| Soft Costs | $200,000 | |
| Land Cost | $50,00 | |
| Potential Unexpected Expenses | $200,000 |
Conclusion:
In conclusion, with your support, we can make a significant impact on Lake County by providing affordable and sustainable energy to its residents. Not only will this reduce energy bills, but it will also contribute to environmental justice by offsetting past carbon emissions from the county’s past reliance on coal. We believe this project is a crucial step forward for not only this community, but for economic and environmental justice as a whole. We look forward to partnering with the Kresge Foundation to make this vision a reality.