APsystems Project Award Non-Profit Winner – Quixote Communities in partnership with South Sound Solar and Olympia Community Solar

When Quixote Village first opened its doors in 2013 to some of Olympia, Washington’s most vulnerable citizens, it was not only the culmination of years of hard work from countless individuals but the realization of a community vision; to provide a safe space and permanent housing to Olympia’s homeless population. Originally established in 2007 as a nomadic encampment called Camp Quixote, the camp’s members would take refuge in the parking lots of local area churches for up to 90 days before having to uproot and find another church willing to offer their parking lot for the camp’s uses. The camp existed like this for nearly seven years, ever moving from parking lot to parking lot, before interested community members took things into their own hands, started a non-profit, and petitioned Thurston County to provide permanent space for the camp. The county answered and granted the property where Quixote Village now stands.

The village consists of 30 individual tiny houses, roughly 140 square feet in size which includes space for a bed, modest storage space for belongings and small furniture items as well as a toilet. Showers and kitchen facilities are housed in the on-site community building. There is also a media room and a community garden where the residents find a great deal of joy and pride.

From inception, there was always the hope of incorporating solar energy into the infrastructure of the village but it always seemed just out of grasp. That is, until Olympia Community Solar, another community non-profit, reached out to the Village earlier last year and offered to spearhead the initiative and take on the often complicated and tedious task of securing funding through a number of different grant channels. South Sound Solar was also an instrumental partner, not only in the installation but of the design of the solar system, as well as coordinating with the necessary utility companies.

The roof of each of the tiny house units now boasts four solar panels, each tiny house solar array producing roughly 1KW. Coupled with APsystems YC600 microinverters which are critical to the system’s specific architecture, and supplemented by panels on the roof of the community building, the solar system saves the village nearly $8,000 per year, money that is reinvested back into the village in the form of on-site mental health support, facility maintenance, better food, and other enrichment programs designed to foster and support the health and safety of the residents.

Happily, Quixote’s vision doesn’t end here. They’ve already opened a second community for homeless veterans in Pierce County in May of 2021 and have broken ground on a third village in Shelton, WA. Both of these new communities have planned solar as part of their energy infrastructure.

APsystems is incredibly proud to award APsystems Non-Profit Project of the Year for 2023 to Quixote Communities in partnership with South Sound Solar and Olympic Community Solar for their inspiring efforts at Quixote Village!

See more pictures for this project here.

Learn more about other 2022 project winners here.

Watch our videos about the project here:

"My name is Kirk Hafner I'm the owner founder president of South Sound solar. I started the business by myself back in 2007, so 15 years in the industry. The Camp Quixote Village was named for the roving tent encampment that was going around the city. I worked with the architectural firm, as I had on previous projects, to make the village solar ready. We had room for four solar panels on each building if we got the old standard 60 cell panels. APsystems worked perfectly for that because the YC600 is a dual-channel microinverter, so we have two microinverters for four solar panels which was optimizing each tiny home, and there's 30 tiny homes. So that was the perfect design solution for this particular project. The other thing about APsystems that we really like is that they are dual-channel as opposed to single-channel so we have two microinverters not four. Another one, as I mentioned, is they can do single-phase 208 which is really important. They're a very reliable product so we're confident that we can get these set up and they work. We made the informed choice to make APsystems our primary microinverter. There were other microinverters in the market but we saw a lot of changes, we saw company financials shift. We weren't sure one particular microinverter manufacturer was still going to be in business. We saw a lot of product failures – it is really frustrating to get 20 microinverters on a site and have a high percentage (double digits) fail and so for us we made that informed choice, and we know there's a lot out there. We know of other installers in the area that also use the APsystems. They have a good product driver from the small residential scale microinverters to larger, essentially 4 channel or commercial, or even three-phase microinverters that we really like as well."

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Success Stories: South Sound Solar discusses the Quixote Village Project

APsystems Solar February 6, 2024 6:08 pm

Quixote Village, a community of 30 tiny homes in Olympia, Washington support it's most vulnerable citizens. Since its inception, the vision included incorporating sustainable solar energy into the infrastructure. Olympia Community Solar took the lead in spearheading this initiative, skillfully securing funding through various grant channels. The design and installation of the solar system were expertly handled by South Sound Solar.

Witness the incredible journey in this video, showcasing each tiny house's roof adorned with four solar panels featuring APsystems microinverters. This innovative system contributes to annual savings of nearly $8,000 for the village, funds that are wisely reinvested into essential resources. Join us in extending heartfelt congratulations to everyone involved for successfully executing this impactful project, earning them the well-deserved title of APsystems’ Non-Profit 2022 Award Winner!

Learn more about this inspiring initiative in the full article here: https://usa.apsystems.com/quixote-village/

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Success Stories: Brightening Lives - Quixote Village Goes Solar

APsystems Solar February 6, 2024 5:25 pm

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Another historic year at APsystems is in the books! The strides we made—including surpassing 3 GW of installed capacity—mark significant milestones for our company and the industry as a whole. But, of course, nothing would be possible without our partner distributors, installers, and end-users that continue to propel APsystems forward.

This brings us to one of our favorite parts of each year—showcasing our project award winners. It’s always a pleasure to see the creativity and ingenuity that people are pairing with our microinverter technology. The 2022 competition also comes with some extra excitement as we have added a nonprofit category to recognize a special organization. Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter your project. Each entry was thoroughly considered and appreciated, but we ultimately could only choose three winners.

Learn more about this project here

In the commercial category, Sustainable Living Innovations, Inc. partnered with A. Adkisson Electric to take home the top prize for their solar innovation on a 15-story apartment building. Apollo Solar sits in the top spot of the residential category for its meticulous work on a 45-panel deinstall-reinstall. And lastly, our winner in the non-profit category, South Sound Solar and Quixote Communities, for their ingenious work of installing solar panels in a tiny home community that focuses on providing shelter for the homeless. Congratulations to all of our 2022 APsystems Project Award Winners!

Learn more about this project here

A decade ago, we couldn’t have imagined—although we hoped—seeing such incredible solar work being done on such a large scale. Each year, we are surprised and elated by the way that the industry is utilizing our microinverter technology. If you have an exciting project upcoming or already underway this year, keep it in mind, as our 2023 awards will be here before you know it! 

Learn more about this project here