(20) 69 Washington Street
“We wanted to lower the church’s carbon footprint”
Name
Keene Unitarian Universalist Church
What motivated you to install solar?
Desire to lower the church’s carbon footprint.
How many panels do you have, and if you know, how much energy are you producing, percentage of your electric usage?
We have a 17.2 kW system which produces approximately 20 mWh per year; generating 80-90% percent of the electrical usage for our 14,000-square-foot building.
What has been the biggest benefit so far? What are you excited about?
Production of over 100 mWh since installation.
The church’s carbon by the numbers
The church has saved 71,831 kg of CO2 emissions according to the dashboard that tracks data. Check out this and other stats!
What were the obstacles to installing solar and what did you do to overcome them?
Getting “buy-in” from congregation and board, finding investor for PPA, inspecting roof, pruning trees.
What advice do you have for people considering installing solar?
Consider integration of battery with system
Anything else you want to share?
For businesses, the photovoltaic system will not help reduce “demand charges” unless it’s possible to blunt peak use with a battery. We have not been able to do that yet.
Clean Energy Keene 