The Origin Story: Solar for Women
August 27, 2023
The idea for Solar for Women came about after my experience as a woman in the trades, and specifically solar, over the past few years. When I quit a job in Fall 2021 due to the disempowerment I was experiencing from my boss, I started to think more about a vision for something different, both for myself and for other women who want to get into solar on the technical / trades side of the industry.
I realized that I wanted two things:
to connect with more women like me
to empower/inspire women and girls to consider the solar trades as a career option (with the hope to one day offer technical trainings)
I started by forming a Facebook group for other women who were already working as solar installers or technicians, primarily in the U.S., but open to others as well. The group has blossomed into a group with over 100 members in a couple of years. We limit the group to those who are currently working in the field, or have been in the past, in order to create an affinity group for women and non-binary folks that really understand what it’s like to be working in the solar trades. It also allows the group to share resources, stories, pose technical questions, share jobs, and more.
The group has been a great resource and inspiration for me, and has provided a space for myself and other women to share our successes and our challenges with one another in safe and welcoming environment.
The Solar for Women Facebook group is a group specifically for women and non-binary installers and technicians.
In addition to the Facebook group, I began developing a website at www.solarforwomen.com, which was launched in late summer 2022. The website is a place where I’ve been able to share the mission, vision, and values of Solar for Women, a bit about myself, and serve as a placeholder for future resources such as trainings.
My friend Jayson Fitch, an amazing artist, helped me to take a concept for the Solar for Women logo and make it into a reality - for which I will be forever grateful!
Around the same time that the website was launched, I also assisted with the women’s PV installation workshop in Albuquerque offered by Marlene Brown during the week leading up to the ASES Annual Conference. You can read more about that here.
I then stayed in Albuquerque in order to present at the ASES conference, which is where I first publicly announced the creation of Solar for Women and what my hopes were for the group. You can learn more about my experience at the conference here.
Prior to those events in Albuquerque, I had accepted a job as a full-time solar installer and electrical apprentice with Namaste Solar in Boulder, CO. The job began in early August 2022, so after I returned from Albuquerque, much of my life was focused on the move to Boulder and getting settled.
The job has really boosted my skills as an installer and solar electrician, connected me to a lot of amazing people, and continued to give me more perspective on what it’s like in the field for women, and how we might create more opportunities for women in solar via an organization like Solar for Women.
Riley Neugebauer of Solar for Women and Namaste Solar poses on a roof where she helped install a residential solar PV system.
In October 2022, Riley attended a Women’s Lab week at Solar Energy International (SEI), to learn alongside a large group of other women from around the world! Many of the women were from the U.S., but there was also a group of Latin American women in a Spanish-speaking cohort that was taking place at the same time, as well as women from Brazil and Trinidad.
It was an incredible experience, with all female instructors, and a lot of opportunities to learn about different kinds of grid-tied systems and roof types. It further validated the mission and vision of Solar for Women and the need to create safe and empowering spaces for learning and community-building amongst women and non-binary folks in the solar trades. SEI went on to offer another of these workshops in Summer 2023, which was also a great success!
You can watch videos from the 2022 and 2023 lab weeks that SEI created, if you want to get a sense of the experience!
A subset of the women who attended SEI’s 2022 Women’s Lab pose after installing a flat roof system at SEI’s Paonia Campus.
Riley was also asked to submit a story idea to Solar Today magazine, which was accepted. The article, “Growing the Number of Female Installers”, was then further developed and published in the January 2023 edition of Solar Today. Just before publishing, Riley found out that one of her photos would be utilized for the cover of the magazine, an exciting honor!
Riley’s Solar Today article led to her being featured on the cover!
Riley has continued in her role at Namaste Solar. She has presented in several online webinars and been featured in a Heatspring article related to women in solar or diversification in the workforce. She also presented on a “Day in the Life: A Female Installer at an Employee-Owned Cooperative” at the ASES 2023 conference in Boulder. She and Jan Scott, another female installer, will soon be featured in media outreach and stories prepared by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to help increase the visibility of women and diversity in the clean energy workforce.
A group from the American Solar Energy Society conference who attended a tour of one of the local National Renewable Energy Laboratory Campuses.
Riley was also recognized as a Top Solar Changemaker by Solar Power World, a great honor, and one which is very linked to Solar for Women and the efforts to lift up more stories of women in the solar trades and advocate for gender diversity in the workforce.
In the next month, Riley will be attending RE+ to present on a panel called “Creating a Culture of Inclusion in Construction and the Trades” alongside Eryka Symmonds of SEIA and ShaLonda Dwight from SOLV Energy.
Also, at the event, Solar for Women has pulled together a team of women and non-binary folks to compete in first ever Power Up Race for Resilience Mobile Microgrid Competition. This is a competition put together by the Footprint Project and RE+. The Solar for Women team will include:
Parvannah Lee, Native Renewables & PV Warriors
Ryannen Ahasteen, Native Renewables & PV Warriors
Solar for Women continues to slowly gain traction through these kinds of opportunities, and we hope to continue to tell the story of women in the trades, build community, and ultimately get to a place where we can fundraise, formalize a non-profit, and build out trainings that can be offered! Maybe you can join us in that effort!
In the meantime, please reach out with any ideas or thoughts you want to share.