A church in Georgia has a new 70.11-kW solar system and a 41-kWh battery storage system which could generate and store enough electricity to save about $15,000 a year on its utility bills. There was no up-front cost to the congregation because of support from Hive Fund, Black Voters Matter, and Georgia BRIGHT. “New Bethel AME Church is demonstrating extraordinary leadership as the first Georgia BRIGHT Communities participant to integrate battery storage with their solar system, By embracing storage, they’re not only cutting costs and increasing resilience for their congregants and the surrounding community, but also showing how community organizations can play an important role in reducing costs and increasing resilience for the larger energy system,” said Alicia Brown, Director of Georgia BRIGHT. There is also a reference in the source to adding EV chargers to the solar power and energy storage mix. This is a potentially important benefit because during a power outage, gas pumps at gas stations that run on electricity generally do not operate. A church with a large solar power array, battery storage, and EV chargers could generate its own electricity to charge electric vehicles, provided there was adequate sunlight. Electric vehicles are ‘batteries on wheels’ and they can also be used for backup electricity if their batteries are sufficiently charged. A church with its own solar power, energy storage, and EV chargers could function as a resilience hub during a power outage and be able to run refrigerators and freezers to store medicines and food. These benefits are available, including the ability to save a considerable amount of money each year by not using very much local utility electricity and/or gas. Utility costs tend to rise gradually, and having a large solar array and battery storage allows the owner to avoid that increasing cost. Another benefit is moving away from a dependency mindset and taking positive action toward energy independence. Many of the church’s congregants can learn about the solar power, energy storage, and EVs at their church and may become more interested to the point they move toward their own energy independence. Solar power is clean renewable energy, but electricity provided by some local utilities comes from burning coal and/or natural gas which produces emissions which harm human health and contribute to climate change. Solar panels are much, much more affordable than they used to be and may be affordable to many people who still believe they cost too much, per MIT: “The cost of solar panels has dropped by more than 99 percent since the 1970s, enabling widespread adoption of photovoltaic systems that convert sunlight into electricity.”
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