SOL for ALL!
Installing Community-Scale Solar Installations that Demonstrate
the Benefits and Viability of Solar, Today!
Sol For ALL is a campaign to bring brighter possibilities for health, prosperity, and sustainability to the people of New Mexico, in line with longstanding community values.
We partner with diverse allies to create energy transformation. Solar today is cost-competitive, creates local jobs, avoids huge amounts of water use – all with none of the environmental and health hazards of coal and other fossil fuels.
For local nonprofits, farms, and public agencies, solar installation allows them to redirect funds previously spent on utility bills to the vital services they provide – money cycled back into the community, instead of for profit. Our solar installations demonstrate the tangible economic, environmental, and health benefits of solar, and prove that the shift to renewable energy is not only necessary but possible today.
UPCOMING PROJECTS:
Reunity Resources - Santa Fe
Reunity Resources models a closed-loop food system including a compost yard, a 2.5 acre regenerative and biodiverse farm that supplies both an onsite farm stand and donations for food insecure families, farm-to-table food truck and food rescue products, outdoor education through a summer farm camp and learning garden, volunteer program, public events, and workforce development and training with longtime collaborator, YouthWorks. The farm provides a centrally located, safe, welcoming and beautiful community gathering place for events ranging from musical performances and open mics to sowing and harvesting festivals.
Sustainability is the heart of the Reunity Resources model - this 25kW array will significantly reduce the estimated $7,000+ annual electricity costs for the farm while reducing CO2 emissions by more than 584,000 lbs over 25 years.
Keres Childrens Learning Center - Cochiti Pueblo
Keres Children’s Learning Center, a bi-lingual Montessori school, was founded with the purpose of reclaiming the education of Pueblo children and educating them in a manner that maximizes their development and potential as Pueblo people. In Keres-speaking villages from the north central Rio Grande to the western Keres-speaking communities, tribal leaders and elders remind parents and families of the crucial importance of passing on their language, and in essence, passing on history, values, beliefs, and a worldview like none other. Solarization will allow the Learning Center to invest valuable resources into teachers and students instead of energy bills.
Barrett House - Albuquerque
Barrett House provides shelter and supportive services to women and children experiencing homelessness in the Albuquerque area, and also runs five housing programs for individuals and families to build self-sufficiency and break the cycle of homelessness. Barrett House creates an opportunity for women and children to get a safety net in place to build the stability they need to start their journey toward securing a home for themselves and their children.
SOL for all
successes
Major Market is one of three tribal owned businesses at Zuni Pueblo, serving roughly 25,000 people who live within 25 miles of the pueblo. This family owned and operated grocery store was opened in 2020 to provide economic vitality in a food desert where grocery stores don’t exist and reliance on gas stations and commodity foods have led to diet-related illness, obesity and diabetes epidemics in the community. Major Market strives to provide healthy and organic food options and support Indigenous farmers and food traditions. This 84kW array will significantly reduce the estimated $22,000+ annual electricity costs for the market, while reducing CO2 emissions by more than 4.5 million lbs over 25 years.
Village of Santa Clara - Centro de Amistad
Located in the Village of Santa Clara, New Mexico, (East of Silver City) this solar project is meeting the electric needs of the center and allowing monies previously set aside for electric bill payments to be repurposed back into the program, like providing healthy meals to more seniors in the Village of Santa Clara, Bayard and Hurley.
TEWA WOMEN UNITED
In 2017 we solarized Tewa Women United's community health and cultural center in Espanola, NM. Tewa Women United is a women-led organization focused on ending cycles of violence in our homes, communities, and in relationship to Mother Earth. The center provides support for families from culturally grounded prenatal support to environmental justice work.
CHIMAYO FIRESTATION
Chimayo Fire Station (2014): We partnered with Santa Fe County to install solar at Chimayo – another victory for fire fighters on the front lines of climate change!
TESUQUE GREENHOUSE
Local farms are key to building resilience in the face of climate change by reducing the need for food imports, strengthening local self- reliance, and contributing to carbon sequestration and sustainable land management. In 2015 we partnered with the Pueblo of Tesuque, the Christensen Fund, and First Nations Foundation, Emigdio Ballon, Carl Rosenberg, Brian Combs, William Longo to solarize the Pueblo of Tesuque’s greenhouse operation to extend the growing season all year long for the Pueblo and allow fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs to feed children, families, and elders in the community. Just like radiant heat in your home, tubes containing water were placed underground and are heated by solar so that the temperature in the green houses never falls below freezing. According to Ballon, the Director of the Pueblo’s farm: “This project is so important because we are re-making our Pueblo sustainable and independent. We don’t have to pay any corporation for our way of life. We are working in harmony with this place to produce crops and seeds, and we recognize that some seeds need more attention than others. The seeds, the earth, the water are essential elements that help us keep our tradition. The father sun is the life force that makes growth and harvest possible!”
TAYTSUGEH OWEENGEH INTERGENERATIONAL CENTER, PUEBLO OF TESUQUE
Taytsugeh Oweengeh Intergenerational Center, Pueblo of Tesuque (Fall 2012): The center is home to a senior center, children’s library, full basketball court, and the Tribal Council’s administrative offices. Funds previously spent on electricity are funding cultural and health programing for the children and families of Tesuque Pueblo.
OUR 1st PROJECT: CROWNPOINT CHAPTER HOUSE ON NAVAJO NATION
In 2011, we installed our first Sol Not Coal community solar array on the Crownpoint Chapter house. The array produced 100% of the Chapter House's electricity needs - freeing up funds previously allocated to utility bills which have since been invested into cultural programming, civic gatherings, and community events. This installation will also brought the tangible benefits of solar power development into clearer focus for local Navajo residents and leaders --building momentum and support for larger commercial-scale solar power developments and for a transition away from fossil-fuel dependency.
Casa Milagro- a home for the formerly homeless
Casa Milagro goes beyond the model of a "transitional home" for formerly homeless residents, creating a permanent home and cohesive family unit where mental health disorders are destigmatized, cycles of violence are broken, and acceptance is fostered through shared commitments to the simple realities and necessities of community life. The Solar Array at Casa Milagro covers 101% of their annual electricity load and, over a 25-year period, the system will save $132,729 in electricity costs and eliminate 912,119 lbs of CO2 emissions.
COCHITI PUEBLO
In the spring of 2018 we completed our largest solarization to date at the Hahn Community Center at the Pueblo de Cochiti. The center houses cultural, health, and community programs for the Pueblo community - serving it's 500 residents as well as thousands of visitors per year.
ZONA DEL SOL
In 2015 we partnered with Earth Care and Positive Energy Solar to solarize the Zona Del Sol youth and family center on the southside of Santa Fe. We were proud to work together to bring one of the first large-scale solar projects to the southside of town. This Santa Fe Youth & Family Center houses educational, recreational, and social service programs of organizations such as Earth Care and the Boys and Girls Club.
MONTE VISTA FARMS
This solarization of a local organic farm owned and operated by a long-time Hispano family in the Espanola Valley has helped us brought the benefits of renewable energy to families up north and to model the opportunity solar can provide to local growers. The majority of northern New Mexico farmers live at or below the poverty level. One of the greatest operational costs on our small farms is refrigeration. Solar eliminates that cost -- making the vital work of producing local organic crops and community food security more viable and sustaining the long, rich tradition of agricultura in our communities.
TESUQUE FIRESTATION
Tesuque Fire Station (July 2013): At Santa Fe County’s first solar-powered fire station, the electricity bill plummeted from more than $115 to $8.65 a month, PNM’s base rate, a success that prompted the County’s interest in solarizing all fire stations. Now, PNM sends the Tesuque fire station a check every month! At the May 14, 2013 County Commission meeting, Commissioners Mayfield and Anaya introduced a unanimously passed resolution approving a project with New Energy Economy to solarize the Tesuque Fire Department. Click here to read the full resolution. After our successful partnership with the County on the Tesuque Firestation solarization, we launched a campaign to have the County commit to solarizing EVERY firestation in the County. In 2013, the County resolved to do just that. To assist with the effort, we worked with the County, local youth, and firefighters to secure State Capital Outlay funds to help pay for the solarizations. Our Solar for firestations was the only solar support to NOT be vetoed by the Martinez administration throughout her tenure.
CITY OF SANTA FE'S LARGEST FIRESTATION: CERRILLOS RD.
In 2012 we partnered with the City of Santa Fe to install solar at its largest station - The Cerrillos Road Fire Station. The money saved on utility bills is invested in protective equipment for firefighters on the front lines of climate change.