Nativity Catholic Church
Eliminates nearly 8,000 metric tons of CO2
As Project Developer, Catholic Energies designed a solution that offset 40% of the parish’s annual energy consumption
The 75kW rooftop solar system is operated and maintained through a third-party owner, allowing the parish to reap the economic savings through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
An LED retrofit combined with solar allows for additional cost savings and reduced environmental footprint, the cost of the LED installation was also covered by the third-party owner
Location: Burke, Virginia - Catholic Diocese of Arlington (CDA)
Catholic Organization: Nativity Catholic Church
Leadership: Rev. Bob Cilinski, Parish Pastor
Timing: July 2020
Opportunities:
Expensive utility bills were a burden on operating budget
Rev. Cilinski was eager to answer the Pope’s call for Care for Creation and saw solar as a possible way to do so
Challenges:
Parish lacked in-house expertise to evaluate potential savings that could be achieved with solar and LED lighting
The parish facility is relatively small with limited suitable roof space
Parish would be one of the first parishes in the Diocese to utilize solar; CDA did not yet have an organized path for approving such projects
Implementation:
Rev. Cilinski learned of Catholic Energies through his work on CDA’s Board of the Office of Planning, Construction, and Facilities
Catholic Energies created economic models from the facility’s electricity bills to evaluate savings potential and designed a solution combining solar with an LED retrofit to reduce overall energy consumption and costs
Catholic Energies helped the parish vet and select the LED and solar contractors and served as the parish “owner’s Rep” throughout the installation and commissioning
Catholic Energies collaborated with CDA’s Office of Planning, Construction and Facilities to jointly create a pathway for Diocese approval of solar installations
Results:
75kW rooftop solar
100% of the project costs were paid for by a third-party investment group secured by Catholic Energies
Their Power Purchase Agreement is estimated to save them over $200,000 over the PPA term and reduce their carbon footprint by nearly 8,000 metric tons
