GRID Alternatives is an environmentalist organization that specializes in installing solar power systems in the U.S., Mexico, Nicaragua, and Nepal. Headquartered in Oakland, California, GRID has multiple offices in California, in Colorado, and in the Mid-Atlantic region. ¹

Founded during the 2001 energy crisis in California, GRID intends to provide solar energy to low-income and underserved communities. GRID began managing the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) program in 2008, an incentive created by the California Public Utilities Commission. ¹

GRID Alternatives uses its influence to promote a left-of-center policy agenda, especially as it relates to climate change, and claims to have affected supporting legislation, program initiatives, and research. ² GRID is part of a larger group of left-of-center organizations that supports the Green New Deal (GND), demanding that the U.S. replace its use of conventional fuels with environmentalist-preferred energy sources. ³ GRID Alternatives has opposed the use of zero carbon nuclear energy. ⁴

GRID is an advocate of left-of-center identity politics and features a DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) statement on its website. ⁵ The group has even gone so far to denounce the United States of America around Independence Day in 2022 and 2023 claiming that “freedom is an American aspiration, not an American reality.” ^{6 7}

Activity

GRID Alternatives was founded by engineers Erica Mackie and Tim Sears during the 2001 energy crisis in California to provide solar energy to low income communities. GRID began managing the Single-family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) program in 2008, an incentive created by the California Public Utilities Commission, intended to expand solar energy across California. ¹

Currently, GRID has offices across California and in Colorado and the Mid-Atlantic region and claims to be the country’s largest non-profit solar installer. ¹ GRID’s National Tribal Program focuses on bringing solar education, projects, and energy to American tribal communities. ⁸

GRID’s International Program works with communities in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Nepal to install solar systems. Funding for this comes from corporations like Google, Toshiba, and Resource Environmental Solutions. Individuals and groups can pay to participate in international projects with GRID. ⁹

GRID Alternatives claims to have influenced legislation, program initiatives, and research in support of its left-of-center policy agenda, especially as it regards climate change. GRID sponsored a California bill that gave its SASH program $108 million, advocated for a Solar for All program to increase solar energy usage in underserved areas, and lobbied Congress to require solar loan and grant programs through the Department of Energy. ²

In 2019, GRID was one of the 626 left-of-center groups that signed a letter urging Congress to support legislation supporting the Green New Deal (GND). The letter demands policy that will end the use of conventional fuels and convert the U.S. to 100% environmentalist-aligned energy. ³

GRID Alternatives’ newest initiative is to increase accessibility to electric cars in underserved communities, which would be powered by solar energy. This initiative works with funding from the California Air Resources Board (CARB). ¹⁰

In 2022, GRID joined the Partnership for a Civilian Climate Corps, a project of Service Year Alliance, in supporting the creation of a American Climate Corps as a part of any Green New Deal-type legislation. The group applauded the Biden administration’s creation of the American Climate Corps on Earth Day 2024 and claimed that the PCCC’s member groups were working with federal agencies and the White House “to ensure that the ACC is implemented in an equitable and effective manner.” ^{11 13}

In April 2023, GRID called on then-President Joe Biden to enact new clear air standards and require automakers to slash auto emissions by 75 percent by 2030. ¹⁴

In April 2023, GRID praised the creation of the Solar for All competition due to the enactment of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act spending bill. ¹⁵

In August 2023, GRID Alternatives joined a call by the Center for Biological Diversity to put a moratorium on utility disconnections for non-payment during hot weather, to offer bill forgiveness for low-wealth households, to appoint a Chief Bill or Resilience Officer to coordinate “equitable climate adaption measures,” to build cooling and hydration centers, to end the use of fossil fuels and to replace them  with weather-dependent energy, and to impose a permanent year-round ban on utility disconnections. The statement called for “transformational action to move beyond the polluting, racist, and profit-driven utility system.” ¹⁶

In 2024, GRID Alternatives’ expanded its already existing partnership with the U.S. government-run paid volunteer agency AmeriCorps to help launch the American Climate Corps, which would among other things train Americans to install weather-dependent energy such as rooftop solar. The American Climate Corps was created as a part of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act spending bill which passed in 2022. ¹⁷

In June 2024, GRID Alternatives praised Colorado for enacting three pieces of legislation which mandated the expanded use of environmentalist approved weather-dependent energy. ¹⁸

DEI Advocacy

GRID supports GreenLatinos declaration to “take back” Cinco de Mayo from what it calls “widespread cultural appropriation” by “the marketers who have shamefully branded Cinco de Mayo as “Cinco de Drinko” and “Drinko de Mayo” and erased the historical significance of what they want you to think is just a day to party.” Instead, the group wants to make the day a day of political action to promote government ownership of 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030 and to ban the development of those lands and waters. ¹⁹

In July 2022, GRID published a post attacking the United States, claiming that freedom is an American aspiration, not an American reality. The post read:

The world has been sold a story of American greatness, but people are showing up with receipts. America’s “greatness” has been achieved through the exploitation of people and the environment. The stealing of Indigenous lands when settlers first arrived nearly erased centuries of life with the earth and land stewardship practices. The enslavement of Africans and Indigenous Peoples built a blood-drenched, extractive, exploitative economy that has almost destroyed the planet in 200 years. The United States’ disproportionate carbon footprint, as the second highest emitter of greenhouse gases globally, devastates the lives of nations who contribute the least to climate catastrophe. ²⁰

The post went on to denounce the United States as leading “in contributions to the climate crisis and the injustices that accompany it. Most recently, the US has led the way in restricting and removing historically and constitutionally enshrined rights of BIPOC, women, and trans and nonbinary folx. Today’s reality is not an accident, it’s by design and woven into the framework of America.” ²⁰

In April 2023, GRID posted on Facebook about its training of “justice-impacted people” and how they don’t just “just install solar but also train folx to do the job.” ²¹

In June 2023, GRID featured a webinar titled, “why is queer liberation an environmental justice issue?” The group also claimed, “Climate change compounds the struggles of trans and queer people worldwide.”²²

On July 4, 2023, GRID denounced the United States in general and specifically the U.S. Supreme Court decision banning affirmative action at universities claiming the country, “took a step backward in racial equity and a significant setback in addressing the deep-rooted structural barriers caused by systemic racism and institutionalized discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.” The social media post also claimed that “the reality is that freedom is an American aspiration, not an American reality.” Instead of celebrating American freedom, the group said it would celebrate the nation’s diversity. ⁷

In October 2023, GRID promoted its webinar with GreenLatinos as a part of what it called “Latinx Heritage Month” and used the word “Latinx” several times. ²³ Latinos overwhelmingly oppose the use of the word “Latinx” to describe them. ²⁴

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

GRID Alternatives was one of more than 600 co-signing organizations on a January 2019 open letter to Congress titled “Legislation to Address the Urgent Threat of Climate Change.” The signatories declared their support for new laws to bring about “100 percent decarbonization” of the transportation sector but denounced nuclear power as an example of “dirty energy” that should not be included in any legislation promoting the use of so-called “renewable energy. ⁴

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and as of 2021 accounted for 19 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ²⁵ An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ²⁶

Financials

According to GRID Alternatives’ 2023 tax return, the group had $63,276,169 in revenue, $37,598,598 in expenses, and $32,848,253 in net assets. Of its revenue, $13,721,664 came from its programs and $4,778,779 came from government grants. The group gave $2,559,339 to Native American tribes to help them build solar projects. ²⁷

According to GRID’s 2024 impact report, the group had $87,049,475 in revenue, $92,251,967 in expenses, and $36,614,967 in net assets. Of its revenue, $15,447,090 came from the government. ²⁸

Among the foundations supporting GRID in 2024 were the Annenberg Foundation, the Denver Foundation, Freedom Together Foundation, the Grove Foundation, Invest In Our Future, James Irvine Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Mighty Arrow Family Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, Sills Family Foundation, Violet World Foundations, and the Emerson Collective (Waverley Street Foundation). ²⁸

On Earth Day 2023, singer Billie Eilish closed her online store for the day and instead urged her fans to donate to GRID and another environmentalist group. ²⁹

In September 2023, the Bank of Montreal gave $3 million to GRID to install weather-dependent solar energy and electric car infrastructure. ³⁰

In October 2023, the city of Richmond, California gave GRID $7.7 million out of $35 million state grant the city received from the state of California for climate-related projects. ³¹

Invenergy has been supporting GRID since 2021, and in 2024 Invenergy gave GRID $300,000 for workforce development and to support the installation of weather-dependent solar energy. ³²

In December 2023, the Waverley Street Foundation gave GRID a $25 million grant to fund the group’s Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund, which sponsors the installation of weather-dependent solar energy on Native American reservations. ³³

In February 2024, Amazon made a $1.2 million donation to GRID to support installing rooftop solar installations on 10 buildings of the headquarters of selected nonprofit organizations. ³⁴

In May 2024, GRID received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to “unlock equity at public electric vehicle charging.” In June 2024, GRID received a pair of solar energy grants from the Environmental Protection Agency worth more than $312 million. ³⁵

In August 2024, GRID received a $300,000 grant from the Rivian Foundation. ³⁶

Since 2018, GRID has received at least $340,175,319 in grants from the U.S. government. ³⁷

Leadership

Erica Mackie is a co-founder and the chief executive officer of GRID Alternatives. Mackie has been recognized by multiple organizations that support left-of-center and liberal policies and activism, including the New Leaders Council, the James Irvine Foundation, and the U.S. Green Building Council. ³⁸

Tim Sears is a co-founder and the chief operations officer of GRID. Sears was recognized by the White House, under former President Barack Obama, as a “Champion of Change” for solar deployment in 2014. ³⁸

As of 2025, Hector Pena was the chief financial officer of GRID and had 14 years’ experience working for weather-dependent energy companies before joining GRID. ³⁹

As of 2025, Adewale OgunBadejo was the vice president of workforce development for GRID. He previously worked at California State University’s Dominguez Hills for the California African American Political & Economic Institute. ³⁹

As of 2025, Christian Weaver was the vice president of philanthropy of GRID and was previously a program director leading the grantmaking programs for the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund. Weaver was previously the associate vice president of major and institutional giving at the U.S. Soccer Foundation, vice president of development at the National Congress of American Indians, director of organizational development for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and manager of major gifts at the American Indian College Fund. ³⁹

As of 2025, Lycia Ortega was the vice president of communications of GRID. She was previously the vice president of external affairs for the National Congress of American Indians. ^{39 40}

As of 2025, Christopher Walker was the vice president for policy and programs of GRID. He previously worked on U.S. Department of Energy-funded programs for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. He also worked for SolarCity and the Climate Institute. ³⁹

As of 2025, Talia Martin was the director of tribal programs at GRID. She was previously the Tribal Department of Energy Director for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. ³⁹

Jenean Smith is the senior director of international programs at GRID. Smith is the founder and former executive director of Power to the People and formerly held marketing positions with the Solar Division of Mitsubishi Electric and the Renewable Energy Division of the Trojan Battery Company. ⁴¹

As of 2025, Arthur Bart-Williams was the executive director of the Bay Area GRID office. ⁴²

Board of Directors

As of 2025, Melicia Charles was the board chair of GRID. She is director of legislative and regulatory policy at Mainspring Energy. She previously worked as director of legislative and regulatory policy at Silicon Valley Clean Energy. She also previously worked as California director of policy at Sunrun and for the California Public Utilities Commission. ⁴³

 

Karen Edson is a former president of the board and is a public participation specialist at the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management. Edson is a former community involvement coordinator at the Environmental Protection Agency and formerly served in the Peace Corps. ⁴⁴

Former board chair and, as of 2025, the sitting vice chair Phyllis Currie served on the Electricity Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Energy. Currie is a former general manager for the Pasadena Water and Power Department and the former FCO of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Currie formerly served on the boards of the American Public Power Association, the California Municipal Utilities Association, and the Southern California Public Power Association. ⁴⁵

GRID’s board secretary as of 2025, Nolan Highbaugh, is the general counsel for BookNook Inc. He was previously the general counsel for the KIPP Foundation, an associate in the public finance department of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, and previously worked for Los Angeles County and the city and county of San Francisco as a budget and policy analyst. ⁴³

GRID’s board treasurer as of 2025, Todd Rahn, at that time headed FTI Consulting’s SEC & Accounting Advisory with a focus on ESG (environmental, social, and governance) practices. ⁴³

Collette Brown-Rodriguez, a GRID board member as of 2025, was the director of tribal development at Avantus. At that time, she was also an independent director at Apollo Silver, a member of the board of directors at S&K Electronics, and is a co-chair of the Native American Relations Committee for the American Exploration Mining Association. ⁴³

Each of GRID Alternative’s regional offices maintains its own boards of directors. ⁴⁵

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13. “Partnership for the CCC Statement on the Launch of the American Climate Corps.” Service Year Alliance. Accessed April 30, 2025. https://www.serviceyearalliance.org/pccc_statement_american_climate_corps.[/note]

    In June 2022, GRID denounced the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases in West Virginia v. EPA as, “an undemocratic exercise of power that leaves the planet in worse shape for everyone, especially Americans who live in proximity to fossil fuel infrastructure” and claimed that Americans would die because of the ruling. ¹² “Grid Alternatives Condemns the Supreme Court Decision in West Virginia v. EPA.” GRID Alternatives, June 30, 2022. https://gridalternatives.org/news/grid-alternatives-condemns-supreme-court-decision-west-virginia-v-epa.

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