Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church
Eliminates nearly 14,000 metric tons of CO2
As Project Developer, Catholic Energies designed a solution that offset nearly 90% of the parish’s annual energy consumption across multiple buildings
The 421.33kW 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: Falls Church, Virginia - Catholic Diocese of Arlington (CDA)
Catholic Organization: St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church
Leadership: Rev. Matthew Zuberbueler, Pastor; Mr. Ed Andercheck, Director of Advancement & Development
Timing: July 2020
Opportunities:
The parish has several larger multi-purpose buildings and roofs suitable for solar
Facility upgrades and improvements were being planned by the parish when Ed Andercheck heard of Catholic Energies
Some of the planned building improvement costs could be incorporated into the PPA price, allowing the parish to re-direct Advancement funds to other needs
Challenges:
Parish did not have any in-house experience needed to evaluate economic and energy benefits that could be achieved with solar and LED lighting
Necessity of coordinating the solar and LED project with the other new construction and roofing plans
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:
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:
421.33kW rooftop solar offsets nearly 90% of their annual energy consumption across all of their buildings and school
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 $1,300,000 over the PPA term and reduce their carbon footprint by nearly 14,000 metric tons
