Our team is proud to partner with the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on this innovative community solar project. Community solar is a model of solar energy development where a solar project shares it’s benefits with participants in the community. Because the project is located on the church, participants don’t need their own sunny roof. This addresses barriers to solar for those without funds or suitable roofs, as well as renters or non-homeowners.
The Good Shepherd project team formed in 2023 to begin this project’s development. After gathering information about roof condition and energy consumption, the project team issued a request for solar proposals to commercial solar installers. We received proposals from four reputable firms and selected Puget Sound Solar for their quality equipment, cost proposition, and substantial experience.
The Thurston County Food Bank agreed to be the project’s beneficiary, and we secured project funding from the WSU Low-Income community solar program. We secured a construction loan from the Sustainable Energy Trust, a program offered by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.
The project was installed in the summer and commissioned in October 2024. It was sized to provide 100% of the Churches’ electricity.
Local Power, Local Food
Our partnership with the Thurston County Food Bank made this project possible. The food bank was an eligible beneficiary of the project funder (WSU) and helped secure the project’s funding.
As the project generates energy, the church utilizes it and saves money on their utility bill. They commit the majority of the savings into a special fund, paid to the food bank. We anticipate the food bank will receive aproximately $21,300 each year for the next 15 years.
After 15 years pass the Church will have the choice to take ownership of the project or ask for it to be removed.
Solar Panels
This project includes 306 Silfab 490 Watt solar panels. The panels are highly regarded in the solar industry for their impressive warranties and efficiency. The commercial module stands at over two meters tall and includes solar optimizers.
These solar panels are warrantied for 25 years, and can produce reliably for much longer.
Inverter
The 100 kW SolarEdge inverter includes an 20 year extended warranty. This inverter will covert the panel’s Direct Current (DC) solar energy into Alternating Current (AC) energy that the school can utilize.
The solar inverter includes a 20 year warranty.
Production Monitoring
SolarEdge monitoring will provide out team and the public with real-time production numbers, alerts if issues occur, and some really cool looking graphs.
Net Metering
We’re taking advantage of Net Metering, the cornerstone policy of the solar industry.
If our solar panels ever produce more electricity than the building consumes, it will flow into the grid and the electric utility provides the church with credits. Later, when we need more utility power the credits reduce the church’s electric bill.
Emissions Reductions
Our 140 MWHs of solar production each year will reduce pollution by 118 thousand pounds of CO2.
This reduction is equivalent of 976 trees planted each year, or 150,000 miles not driven.
(calculated using the PSE 2023 resource mix and the EPA greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator)
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