Archdiocese of New York Launches Renewable Energy Pilot Program, Sign PPAs
October 31,2018
The Energy Department of the Archdiocese of New York along with five parishes joined Con Edison Solutions and students from Blessed Sacrament School to launch a renewable energy pilot program.
As part of the initiative, five parishes, including Blessed Sacrament, St. Clare, and St. Patrick on Staten Island and St. Ann and St. Anthony in Yonkers have installed rooftop solar arrays which will collectively generate approximately 700,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity through 1,717 solar panels.
On average, each solar project will provide approximately 50 percent of a parish's annual energy needs. Each parish has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Con Edison Solutions. Under the agreement, Con Edison Solutions will install, own, operate, and maintain the solar projects, "allowing the parishes to reduce energy costs by approximately 25 percent on average over the next two decades," the company said
All five solar arrays are behind-the-meter, installed to serve the electrical needs at the customer’s building. The amount of electricity to be generated at each site will vary according to the system size. System capacity is detailed below:
• Blessed Sacrament Parish – 153kW-DC with 472 PV modules
• St. Ann’s Parish – 56 kW-DC with 173 PV modules
• St. Anthony’s Parish – 78kW-DC with 240 PV modules
• St. Clare’s Parish – 134kW-DC with 412PV modules
• St. Patrick’s Parish – 136 kW-DC with 420 PV modules
The Archdiocese of New York is also working with Con Edison Solutions on potential community solar projects at other parishes, schools, and other institutions in the archdiocese.
The Archdiocese of New York selected Con Edison Solutions through a competitive procurement process that included more than 10 solar developers.