Everyday Energy in Southern California celebrated another successful solar installation at an affordable housing apartment complex last week.  Everyday installed a 167-kilowatt solar system on several carports at the Los Robles Apartments in Vista, Calif.

The installation will provide 95 percent of the electricity the complex needs and will save the affordable housing agency, Community Housing Works, significant expense on utilities. The project was funded with a $555,118 grant from the California Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing  (MASH) program. Everyday Energy has installed more of those projects than any other installer in California, said COO Chris Taylor.

“We’ve done over 90 percent of the MASH projects in the Southern California region,” Taylor said.

When the company started, it was pursuing a diverse lineup of solar installations and it still does other residential and commercial installation. But the process for installing through the MASH program is more complicated than most, Taylor said. And Everyday Energy unlocked the secret to getting the projects funded.

Once Everyday figured out how to successfully get the funding, nonprofit organizations started defecting from the companies they were working with on stalled projects to get the job done with Everyday Energy. “It’s kind of interesting, because when we got into this there was no more money in the program,” Taylor said.

The installer worked with a nonprofit and got on the waiting list for project funding. When one of the other projects fell through, Everyday got its funding. “Even though we were the last one on the list, we were the first to finish a project,” he said.

The Los Robles Apartments project was with another major solar company that couldn’t make the numbers work and went to Everyday Energy. The complex operates on one meter and utilities are included in the tenant’s rent. The money the nonprofit saves, it will be able to put back into enrichment programs, Taylor said.