The Sierra Sky Park's Story
In Sierra Sky Park, airplanes and Sunrun solar systems line the streets.
Check out ABC-30's coverage below of the Sierra Sky Park Community's decision to go solar with Sunrun and read their story!
At the Sierra Sky Park in Fresno, California, the first residential airpark in the world, “you don’t say anything unless you want everyone to know about it,” according to Sky Park resident, Richard. With fewer than 100 homes, the Sky Park community is close-knit – any home improvement is public news.
This is why when Chip and Melanie decided to get home solar in Fresno with Sunrun, they became the first of many in their neighborhood. At least five homes have gotten residential solar with Sunrun after Chip – solar panels line house roofs and hangers alike as nearly every resident in the area owns an airplane, plane hanger, or plane port. Besides the airplanes that unite them, the neighborhood is relatively diverse – the neighbors hold various professions, from pharmacists to retired military, and live in both old and new homes. “It’s not a regular housing development,” Chip explained.
The neighbors had been interested in solar for a while, but none had seriously considered it as a viable option. Owning a relatively high-energy home and realizing that electricity rates would only continue to increase, Chip knew it made the most sense to go solar. Chip briefly considered installing the panels himself but he was sold on Sunrun Total Solar: “the no upfront cost, initial monthly savings, and protection against future rate increases sold me on the Sunrun idea.
His neighbors were immediately curious. While they had considered solar, they’d been reluctant to “fork over $35-40,000 for a system,” as Chip had been. Phil was the second to go solar. According to Phil, he is “the kind of guy who likes someone else to do the research.” He trusted Chip’s research and installation experience and was fascinated by the Sunrun solar financing plan. Phil had also been concerned about the rising energy costs, especially in the summer, but had been deterred by the upfront cost of getting solar panels. In addition, he didn’t want to own his own system; if something went wrong, Phil wanted to be able to make a phone call and have it taken care of.
Steve followed suit shortly thereafter. Unlike Phil, however, he’d been speaking to multiple installation companies, including at nearby home shows. His high energy prices also drove Phil to look into solar – not only did Steven have a good-sized house, but with both his wife and mother-in-law in the house, two televisions in his living room, another two televisions in the attached apartment, his utility bill was quite steep.
Bill had already gone solar – with his koi pond. He had installed a solar pump for his pond and was already familiar with photovoltaic technology. But, he never seriously considered it as an option for his home until he spoke to Steve, who lived across the street from him. While he had been into the technology for a while, his neighbors’ installs were what finally pushed him to action. Solar was finally viral at the airpark: “Everyone else was doing it, I might as well join in.” Bill was so impressed with the work done on Steve’s panels that he requested that the same installer do the work for his house. Bill’s panels are installed across the top of his airplane hanger and according to Bill, it’s an ideal setup – south-facing, no trees, catching all the sunshine Fresno has to offer.
For Richard, it was all about the bottom dollar. The environmental benefits of going solar interested him far less than the financial advantages. He liked that with Sunrun, he didn’t have to pay an upfront cost nor did he have to worry about the maintenance – for Richard, “it works or it doesn’t work.”
"If one of those panels went bad in the middle of the roof, it's not my problem."
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