Decision based on fiscal, environmental stewardship
Adopting solar energy for its Pastoral Center gives the Richmond Diocese the opportunity to practice what it preaches. In his 2015 encyclical “Laudato Sí: On Care for Our Common Home,” Pope Francis stressed that climate change is a global problem with grave environmental, social, economic and political implications. He decreed that everything in creation is interconnected and that humans must be stewards of it.
Further, Bishops Barry C. Knestout, Richmond Diocese, and Michael Burbidge, Arlington Diocese, signed the U.S. Catholic Declaration, “a document supporting the call to take prudent action to protect the global climate,” according to the Virginia Catholic Conference website.
The Richmond Diocese is adopting solar energy for its 55,000 square-foot Pastoral Center, home to diocesan-level offices in Richmond, and has installed LED lighting (light emitting diode) which energystar.gov said produces light up to 90% more efficiently than incandescent light bulbs.
The solar power system is ready to go on the grid as soon as Dominion Energy switches out the meter. Church of the Holy Family Parish in Virginia Beach, Church of St. Therese Parish in Chesapeake, Immaculate Conception Parish in Hampton, Our Lady of Lourdes School in Richmond, Roanoke Catholic School, and Sacred Heart Parish and school in Danville had either completed their solar projects and were online or awaiting regulatory approval. St. Pius X Parish in Norfolk and St. Augustine Parish in Chesterfield are in the process of converting to solar power.
“You can ask any pastor or any principal of any of the projects what their message is, what they convey to me is they’re acting on what they preach,” said Page Gravely, head of client services at Catholic Energies. “They preach care for creation and environmental stewardship, and they are demonstrating to the community that they are acting on it by contributing to better environmental quality.”
Catholic Energies is a service of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Catholic Climate Covenant which helps guide the U.S. Church’s response on climate change and care for creation.
The Richmond Diocese decided to use solar energy for the Pastoral Center because it made both fiscal and environmental sense, said Charles Mikell, director of the diocesan Office of Real Estate.
The energy required to power U.S. buildings is responsible for about a third of the greenhouse gases in the country, according to a Catholic Energies press release.
Gravely estimates about 75% of the Pastoral Center’s annual electricity needs will be produced by the solar array. Using solar power and switching to LED lighting is expected to save $14,000 to $16,000 on average per year in electricity expenses. He anticipates the solar project will offset 432 tons of greenhouse gases annually. That equates to taking 94 passenger cars off the road for a year.
Employing solar power is in line with the Virginia Clean Economy Act signed in spring 2020. It calls for the state to move toward 100% of renewable energy such as solar and wind. Among other matters, it declares energy efficiency pilot programs to be “in the public interest” and requires nearly all coal-fired plants to close by the end of 2024, Dominion Energy to be 100% carbon-free by 2045 and Appalachian Power to be 100% carbon-free by 2050, according to a April 2020 press release from the governor’s office.
If a Catholic entity such as a parish or school wants to convert to solar power either completely or partially, Catholic Energies can take the reins. The organization can work with Catholic institutions without charge from the beginning to end; that is, from economic analysis to panel installation and activation. A solar project generally takes three to six months to be up and running.
Gravely said Catholic institutions have three options on how to pay for a solar energy system — pay upfront, finance it or sign a power purchase agreement (PPA). For the Pastoral Center, Madison Energy Investments footed the $550,000 bill for the solar project, and in return, the diocese entered into a 25-year PPA to purchase the solar power from Madison at a lower rate than Dominion Energy’s.
It also locks in a rate. Dominion Energy can change its rate for kilowatt hours of electricity consumed, but the rate of kilowatt hours charged by Madison for the solar is set by contract. After five years, the diocese will have the option each year to buy-out the system that is expected to last 30 to 40 years, Gravely said.
Mikell said his personal goal is for the diocese to be the “greenest” in the country. He said employing solar energy is cost-effective for 70% of the diocese’s 146 parishes and 22 schools, and he hopes those will all have solar energy within three years.
He also hopes that the use of solar power throughout the diocese will inspire people in the community, not just Catholic parishes and schools, to consider using solar energy for their buildings.
“That thought will eventually enter people’s minds and maybe one house at a time, one neighborhood at a time, an entire community or an entire town can maybe go solar to where everybody is saving energy and money and the whole nine yards,” Mikell said.