Trina Solar, Patrick Dempsey to bring solar to disadvantaged schools, communities

Trina Solar, Patrick Dempsey to bring solar to disadvantaged schools, communities Last year, actor and race car driver Patrick Dempsey got into the solar game with Trina Solar. This year they’re building on that relationship by working to put systems on schools, health clinics and nongovernmental organizations, particularly in communities that are in need, according to Trina.

“We’re excited about the Dempsey relationship and everything we’re doing [through the effort],” said Michael Grunow, marketing director for Trina Americas. “We’ve had a relationship with him that goes back several years.”

When Dempsey partnered with Trina—they’re a sponsor of Dempsey Racing GRAND-AM team—he joined a growing list of celebrities that are helping to promote solar energy, like Larry Hagman, who once played oilman J.R. Ewing on Dallas. But now promotes solar panels for SolarWorld.

Last year Dempsey made public appearances for Trina and appeared in Trina’s Plug Me In, Light Me Up video. This year he’ll continue to make public appearances to support solar and Trina.

The effort with Dempsey is part of Trina’s larger effort to bring solar to more communities, according to Grunow.

“We are going after 100 percent education. We are pursuing it aggressively,” he said. “Right now we’re in discussions and taking proposals from several different schools.”

At this point Trina Solar has identified where it will start installing arrays under the program.

“It’s not totally defined. We’re looking for right projects,” Grunow said.

Such projects will include educational components intended to help increase awareness about the benefits of solar power.

Under the program, systems will be donated to the qualifying schools.

“One-hundred percent is going to be straight donations. We don’t want anyone making money off the systems we donate,” Grunow said.

In 2011, Trina and Dempsey donated a PV array to North Carolina's Victory Junction, a summer camp for children with chronic illnesses. It put solar on the roofs of several Habitat for Humanity homes in Texas, the company said. It also donated panels to international projects.