Solar superintendent Jessica Baldwin works for Sun Light & Power – “a smart and resilient solar design and installation company.” This is Jess’ inspirational story!
“There are so many things in life we can count on. Electrons vibrate more at hotter temperatures, water vapor is lighter than air, color is from refracted light, the moon orbits around the Earth, and decay fosters new life.
In the strange times upon us, our personal destinations have been made unclear. We may have less control over our lives than we thought we did. Companies are closing all around. One guarantee is that the sun will continue to shine. The longevity of the companies that operate the utility grids, or control the availability of our fuel supply is unknown, but the availability of solar energy is guaranteed.”
As a tough young lady from upstate New York, Jessica supported her art - and her son - by working as a plumber in New York City. Jessica had to close the Brooklyn Free Store, her renown social interaction art gallery where she lived and worked after a devastating car accident in 2005.
Already in love with heating and hydronics, by chance Jessica got a “plumbing” job working with solar thermal and hydronic engineer Pete Skinner in 2006. You might say, solar saved her life. By 2010, she had achieved the esteemed NABCEP solar thermal certification.
Knowledgeable about the basics of the construction business, Jessica was in high demand when she was asked to form a business in order to install a Viessmann flat plate array on the steel canopy of a new 96-unit building in the Bronx. She formed Solar Plumbing Design in 2010 and continued to grow and learn. Jessica was consulted by, and consulted for, several well-known solar, plumbing, and architectural firms in New York. Never afraid to ask questions, life has always been a learning adventure for Jessica as she continues to prove her faith in humanity and physics.
Jessica’s scope of work has included design and installation of solar, boilers, residential plumbing, and storm water recycling. In 2014 she met and married a Navy trained electrical engineer who had been installing solar photovoltaic (PV) systems since 2009. She soon added PV to her own scope of work and began living up to customers’ new expectations at a time when battery energy storage was coming into play and interconnection policy was a moving target. Jessica’s belief in solar kept driving her to stay involved.
Jessica didn’t have the team support she needed to maintain the solar business and support her family, particularly when she twice gave birth at the shop! She spent almost a year considering where she could share her talents before she saw a job opening for a superintendent at Sun Light & Power. Jessica had been an admirer of Sun Light & Power since she became familiar with our work after meeting solar thermal sales and design wizard Martin Morehouse at a conference in 2012.
Safe and happily settled just north of Berkeley, Jessica is thrilled to be working on the best solar thermal and PV systems in America. Jessica holds several certifications including RPA, NFPA battery safety, EPA, ICC Mechanical Inspector, and NABCEP. She has also written articles, taught, and spoken at a handful of venues in New York.
Jessica knows and appreciates the importance of working as an integral part of the amazing team of employee owners at Sun Light & Power and is looking forward to a future here. Solar supports Jessica’s family. We are glad to have her smart and positive influence on our projects - especially during this challenging time.
Jessica Baldwin is a mom and solar Superintendent at Sun Light & Power.