Volunteer Spotlight
Chris Satterlee Leads SunWork Volunteer Training Activities
SunWork’s cadre of trained volunteers is the engine that allows us to make solar more affordable for nonprofits and low-energy-use homes. The great majority of volunteers are involved with installing panels, placing inverters, running wires, and the many other activities associated with a solar installation.
Other SunWork volunteers work on our website, perform market research, assist at outreach events, etc. One volunteer, however, has been playing an especially important role for the last couple of years. Chris Satterlee has taken on the responsibility of leading SunWork’s volunteer training sessions on the Peninsula and in the South Bay.
This role is crucial because he teaches not only the basics of solar energy and solar installation, but also imparts safety best practices that are vital to ensuring the well-being of SunWork’s volunteers.
Chris has worked on more than 25 SunWork installations and also helped with outreach efforts at SunWork events.
Chris has also focused his talents for innovation on improving SunWork’s training sessions. One example is the development of an extensive animated slide presentation that’s now used whenever our volunteers are trained. This has improved the effectiveness of the sessions and enabled newly trained volunteers to hit the ground running on their first installation.
In addition to his role as trainer, Chris is an outstanding SunWork volunteer in other regards. He worked on more than 25 SunWork installations and also helped with outreach efforts at SunWork events.
Beyond SunWork, Chris has brought his Electrical Engineering background and experience in leading the development of computer and networking components to other volunteer activities. For example, he has recently helped his alma mater, Stanford University, by producing a tool (the “IV Swinger 2”) that’s used in Stanford lab courses to plot the current vs. voltage characteristics of a PV panel under varying conditions.
If you’re interested in volunteering to help with SunWork installations, outreach, website maintenance/enhancement, or other activities, please contact us at info@sunwork.org.
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Battery Backup
In general, an existing solar system can be upgraded to add battery backup. However, it is expensive and SunWork does not install batteries at this time.
Installing batteries for backup purposes can cost $15,000 to $30,000
