CHERP Solar Works, a project of the California-based 501(c)(3), Community Home Energy Retrofit Project, is on a mission to extend the reach of renewable energy to economically disadvantaged communities. CHERP Solar Works is dedicated to creating green-sector jobs—particularly for those with barriers to entry in the workforce and aims to stimulate local economies, pursue environmental justice and achieve greenhouse gas reductions.

Through a licensing agreement with idealPV, CHERP solar Works is producing the world’s most advanced solar panels, in a non-profit assembly factory in Pomona. They are also incubating a network of distributed manufacturing centers, called the Locally Grown Power national solar factory network, in economically disadvantaged and environmentally burdened communities across the country.

The assembly factory will have a small footprint of only 6,000 ft², but create 213 middle class manufacturing and construction jobs. Including indirect jobs, there will be 763 new jobs in total at peak production. Installing locally made, 6,000 CLGP solar systems will save LMI households $6.5 Million every year, and will be maintained by cap-and-trade carbon-credit funding and which are projected to last 25 (and more) years. The monthly savings – an increase in Disposable Personal Income (DPI) -can be spent locally, increasing a family’s quality of life and growing the local economy. DPI spending ($6.5 Million per year) increases city revenues by 12% and state revenues by a 2:1 ratio.

Read the complete press release HERE.

Photo: Director Karen Suarez in a recent visit to the CHERP Solar Works facilities in Pomona.