A Presbyterian church in Maryland uses solar power for all its electrical needs, and supplies discounted energy to neighbors in need
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
The solar panels on Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, Maryland, produce more electricity than the church needs. It’s able to provide electricity at reduced rates to a neighboring nonprofit housing program. (Photo courtesy of Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church)
LOUISVILLE — As one of two PC(USA) churches recently honored as Cool Congregations by Interfaith Power & Light, Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington, Maryland, relishes telling the story of how it covered its roof in solar panels to provide all the electricity it needs, as well as filling some of the needs of its neighbors, including very low income adults in mental health recovery.
On Tuesday, it fell to Dr. Mark Eakin and his wife, June, to share highlights of the congregation’s journey with Presbyterians for Earth Care, an organization Mark Eakin, a retired oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has served for many years.
June Eakin
June Eakin spearheads the Earth Stewardship Team at Warner Memorial, an Earth Care Congregation since 2009. “We are striving to follow Jesus’ instruction to love our neighbors,” she said. “We may be in a red brick church, but we’re working to be green stewards.”
Warner Memorial’s 160-panel solar array connected to the grid in Montgomery County, Maryland, on Nov. 17, 2023. The Eakins gave credit to a number of partners who helped make Warner Memorial’s project happen, including Montgomery County GreenBank, Skyview Ventures, Lumina Solar and Housing Unlimited Inc.
Mark Eakin went over some of the solar options churches have, although the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act has greatly increased the financial incentives that are now available. At 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on July 23, Ronald Newman, senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Treasury for IRA implementation, will speak to PEC via Zoom about the IRA’s direct pay program. Learn more and register here.
Mark Eakin went over three options churches have for installing solar panels:
- The church owns the panels. It purchases the panels or sets up a limited liability corporation to pay for them. This option has the highest up-front costs. Interfaith Power & Light’s website has ideas for helping congregations get started, and the Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program offers low-interest loans through its Restoring Creation Loan.
- Use of a solar developer to create a Power Purchase Agreement, an arrangement that allows a third-party developer to install, own and operate an energy system on a customer’s property. The customer then purchases the system’s electric output for a predetermined period.
- Under the community solar model, the church has no panels on its property. Instead, it purchases power from a community solar provider. Laws vary from state to state, and so what’s legal in Maryland is not currently allowable in neighboring Virginia.
The Eakins fielded questions from among the 30 or so viewers Tuesday. A pastor in Texas asked whether the Warner Memorial array included batteries for storing energy. When told it doesn’t, the pastor said she can envision including battery storage in states like Texas that are impacted by damaging storms and power outages. That would enable neighbors to come to the church, escape the heat or cold for a few hours, and charge their smartphones.
Dr. Mark Eakin
Churches can tap into the Inflation Reduction Act to help pay for batteries to go with their solar panels, Mark Eakin noted. “Our system won’t work independent of the power grid, but you can do that with a battery backup and proper [panel] installation,” he said.
“When it rains,” PEC Moderator the Rev. Bruce Gillette said, “I tell our people that God wanted to wash off the panels.”
When planning for its solar array, Warner Memorial intentionally designed some west-facing panels to take advantage of all the traffic passing by on Connecticut Avenue, a busy street.
“We wanted people driving past to look up and see those panels in place,” Mark Eakin said.
“Between IRA funding and energy savings, you can pay the panels off in a relatively short amount of time,” said Gillette, who served a church in Delaware that saw membership growth as a result of its solar initiative. “If you have a south-facing roof, you’re predestined to get these.”
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