Hartle Court Permanent Supportive Housing

Non-profit Solar Electric Installation Project Profile

The Hartle Court Permanent Supportive Housing facility in Napa, CA was designed with energy efficiency in mind. As part of that plan, SolarCraft both designed and installed a 23 kW solar electric system. The recently completed housing facility is now powered by clean solar energy, providing significant savings to the facility.

The Hartle Court Facility, developed by the Gasser Foundation and operated by The Progress Foundation, is targeting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver. This would be the Napa Valley's first LEED Certified Multi-Family Residential Development.

The project consists of 98 Sharp 235-watt solar panels spanning 1,719 square feet of roof tops on multiple buildings. The system is expected to generate approximately 31,540 kilowatt hours of energy annually, providing sustainable and price stable energy to the facility for years to come.

Each of the 98 solar modules is controlled by a micro-inverter, manufactured by Enphase Energy of Petaluma, CA. Unlike more conventional solar electric systems, the micro-inverters greatly reduce impacts of shade from nearby trees or structures, and generate about 7% more power than conventional inverters. Overall system efficiency is increased by 10-12%. In addition to resolving shade issues, the Enphase inverters allowed for the flexibility of solar panel awnings over several windows on the facility.

The new solar energy system allows the Hartle Court Facility to generate enough electricity each day to power over 11 average homes. It will spare the air nearly 17 tons of harmful greenhouse gases annually. Over the next 30 years, the air pollution saved will be equivalent to eliminating over 1 million miles of driving.

The monitoring display for the system is located in the front office and is available for public viewing.

Customer Profile

The Hartle Court facility includes 18 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments. The two-bedroom apartments will serve "transitional age youth," typically young adults leaving foster care. The one-bedroom apartments will be for adults served by Progress Foundation, a non-profit agency dedicated to providing community-based residential treatment and supported housing programs to people with mental disabilities.