BRIDGE Housing, a community development organization, celebrated completing a 246-kW solar project portfolio installed across 94 homes in Suisun City, California. The Cottonwood Creek solar project is reducing tenants’ monthly energy bills by nearly $47 through net metering.
“Installing solar helps residents save significantly on their utility bills while making our properties more environmentally sustainable,” said Ken Lombard, president & CEO of BRIDGE Housing. “We’re proud to partner with Sunrun and the SOMAH program to bring renewable energy and job opportunities to communities such as Cottonwood Creek.”
In 2018, Sunrun made a commitment to developing 100 MW of solar on affordable multifamily housing in California by 2030 via California’s Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program. Additionally, in 2021, Sunrun pledged to bring at least 500 MW of low-income solar to people across the country by 2030. These efforts will bring the benefits of solar to hundreds of thousands of families.
“I’m thrilled that BRIDGE Housing and Sunrun are expanding clean energy access and bill savings to thousands of additional renters across California,” said Mary Powell, Sunrun’s CEO. “We’re committed to a future where everyone has affordable, reliable, clean power.”
SOMAH focuses on workforce development and tenant engagement. Each SOMAH project, including Cottonwood Creek, offers paid job training opportunities in the rapidly growing clean energy sector. One of the trainees from Cottonwood Creek now holds a full-time job at Sunrun.
“At a time when national attention is on the high price of gasoline and inflation, Sunrun and BRIDGE Housing are demonstrating the triple bottom line opportunity presented by the historic SOMAH Program. Bill credits from this solar installation will provide real energy burden relief to Cottonwood Creek’s families now and for future generations and another SOMAH job trainee has a full-time career based on his work on this project. We’re excited to deploy the nearly $250 million in funding we have available to replicate this success story all across California,” said Chris Walker on the program administrator team for SOMAH.
Additionally, through SOMAH program, Sunrun partnered with GRID Alternatives’ jobs training program to train more than 100 Californians in solar installation to date.
“I’m very excited to save some money on energy bills,” said Margaret Van Bibber, a Cottonwood Creek resident who works as an in-home care provider. “Even a little will go a long way to help with my daughter’s school supplies and other essentials.”
Cottonwood Creek, which opened in 2008, offers 94 affordable apartment homes for families; the median household income of residents is currently $25,707. The property consists of garden-style walk-up apartments, a community room and recreational amenities such as a pool. Cottonwood Creek’s environmentally-friendly features also include landscaping that minimizes the buildings’ solar gain in the summer, energy- and water-efficient fixtures and appliances throughout and sustainable building materials.
