Bring Solar to St Johns Housing Partnership (SJHP) in St. Johns County, St. Augustine,

Florida. 

The SJHP committed to promoting affordable housing by creating links between the public and private sectors for projects which create low and moderate-income housing, benefit disadvantaged areas, rebuild neglected neighborhoods, and enhance community economic and social development. 

They provide a variety of construction services at no or very low cost for local homeowners who need help reducing their maintenance costs and making repairs that allow them to remain living independently for as long as possible. After reducing health and safety concerns, the SJHP focuses on energy and water conservation along with accessibility retrofits. 

SJHP rehabs between 100-150 homes annually. Depending on funding
opportunities, those rehabs can vary from $2,500- $45,000 per home.

We are planning two installations for this location:

• one at the SJHP main office -12.8 kW array, it is anticipated to save SJHP ~$2,500 annually (based on current utility cost projects this will grow to over $7,000 a year in the next 30 years), which can be directly invested in helping retrofit a home in their community.  
• another one at Patriot Place - a 6-unit veterans apartment complex (9.72 kW). It will provide solar to 3 of 6 individual Veterans Apartments, allowing for a side-by-side comparison of the impact on this low-income community. The complete system will save approximately $1,926/year (as electricity rates continue to grow this will result in $5,600 a year). Each individual apartment will experience a current savings of approximately $54/month.

Combined 22.52 kW systems will be installed. 

“We hope to showcase this solar system as a way to generate more interest and support for solar initiatives in our area”, Bill Lazar, SJHP Executive Director.  

The SJHP has been a weatherization agency since 1998. A core part of their rehab mission is to reduce energy bills. In addition, they are currently building new homes for first-time homebuyers that are green-certified. 

“As a green builder partner with the Florida Green Building Coalition, they truly believe that solar is an important part of Florida's future, although it is a very difficult piece to fit into affordable housing budgets”, Bill Lazar. 

 THANK YOU to individuals and organizations who have made contributions to help bring solar to St. John Housing Partnership!

Special Thanks to...

^. Anonymous Donors ^. David Ellis ^.

and...

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