PearlX announces solar system for Californian workforce housing site
Energy infrastructure firm and capital partner PearlX has announced plans for a 224 kW solar energy system at Victorville, California’s Golden Sands Apartments.
Established through a partnership between PearlX, Aspen Real Estate Financing, and the Housing Authority of San Bernardino, the solar asset will serve workforce housing customers in need of bill savings, the company says. The partnership is an example of PearlX’s Energy Estate model, the firm says, which treats multifamily housing buildings as “distributed grid assets with long-term, financeable value.”
“This public-private partnership shows that the Energy Estate model can scale across the country for the multifamily market,” says PearlX Infrastructure co-founder Michael Huerta.
Huerta adds that the firm will finance, install, and operate the energy system at no cost to the property owner. This model allows the company to pay landlords rent in exchange for the rights to manage the property’s energy systems and infrastructure.
Aspen Real Estate Financial LLC, the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino, and the California Affordable Housing Agency recently acquired Golden Sands apartments, the company says. Now, the 120-unit workforce housing complex will see electricity savings at a crucial time for the Golden State’s energy sector.
Spreading timely bill savings
The stakes of projects like the one PearlX is planning are “especially meaningful” for workforce housing communities like Golden Sands, the company says.
Representatives from the firm estimate that lower-income families spent upwards of 15% of their income on energy bills thanks to spiking utility rates. Those rate hikes show no sign of slowing down, thanks to AI data centers, heightened electrification, and other large-load demands.
All these factors combined have made the energy partnership and subsequent solar project exceptionally timely.
“Bringing PearlX in as our energy partner at Golden Sands was an easy decision,” says Harry Richard, partner at Aspen Real Estate Financial. “Affordable housing communities like this one deserve the same quality of sustainable infrastructure as any market-rate property. PearlX’s ability to deploy capital quickly and manage these systems over the long term gives us confidence that our residents and operational teams will benefit for decades to come.”
The average energy bill for California residents has risen nearly 30% over the past five years, the company says. 56 million Americans now see higher utility bills than normal, but residents participating in the Golden Sands solar program will receive a 12.5% discount on electricity costs, when compared to standard utility rates.
“Housing for working families plays a vital role in addressing the gap between subsidized housing and market-rate rents,” says Rishad Mitha, deputy executive director of the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino. “Golden Sands represents an opportunity to bring quality housing to households with moderate incomes who are often not eligible for traditional affordable housing programs but still find market rents out of reach.
“Pairing that with meaningful energy savings through PearlX’s solar program makes this partnership even more impactful.”
