We are committed to serving as a meeting point for the good folks in our area who are undertaking congregational solar projects, and to ensuring that each project benefits from the experience of and lessons learned by all of those that came before.
We’re learning everything we can about our region’s successful congregational solar projects and are tracking them on our map. Click each pin on the map to learn about each congregation’s solar project, along with news coverage, photo and video, and contact information.
Know of any solar congregations that aren’t on our map or have corrections? Email solar @ ipldmv.org.
Curious about going solar at home? Learn more.
We’re learning everything we can about our region’s successful congregational solar projects.
Interested in going solar at your congregation? The most important thing to understand is that most congregations in our region with solar panels on their roofs:
Rev. Dr. Earl Trent, Jr., Florida Ave Baptist Church, c redit: Jocelyn Augustino/Urban News Service
Instead, through power purchase agreementsA Power Purchase Agreement, or PPA, governs the terms under which the congregation purchases solar energy from the private company that placed solar panels on their facility or grounds.
Why do congregations often go solar with PPAs?These financing arrangements emerged at a time when the federal tax credit for solar panels was completely unavailable to nonprofits. Now, the Inflation Reduction Act has made the federal credit “monetizable” by organizations that don’t pay taxes starting in 2023 through a provision called “Direct Pay.” (Learn more about how to pursue Direct Pay for a nonprofit solar project here .) Even now, though, PPA financing arrangements continue to be compelling for many congregations anyway:
Over a hundred local congregations getting their energy from the sun are here to tell you: PPA financing is real, it’s kosher, and it’s not too good to be true!
It’s important to understand why companies are willing to provide congregations with no-money-down solar financing, so you can evaluate proposals confidently, with real understanding of what makes these projects profitable for the other party.
On the back end, companies that offer PPAs to congregations make their money back several ways , most of them having nothing to do with your congregation at all, including:
30% of the cost and labor of the entire project
Side note: Can tax-exempt nonprofits enjoy this now?In the past, PPA financing became popular when congregations had absolutely no access to the federal solar tax credit.
Now, the Inflation Reduction Act has made the federal credit “monetizable” by organizations that don’t pay taxes starting in 2023 through a provision called “Direct Pay.” (Learn more about how to pursue Direct Pay for a nonprofit solar project here .) That said, we expect many congregations will still choose to go solar through PPA financing.
Maryland, DC, and Virginia may have clean energy tax rebate programs that a private company can enjoy.
When property — like a solar array — loses value, one can deduct the loss from one’s taxable income. Solar panels lose their real value very slowly, generating energy even after two or three decades.
But, for tax purposes , these companies can act as if — on paper — solar panels lose all their value in the first five years.
(By contrast, for the congregation itself, which owes no taxes, depreciation is of no value at all.)
Clean energy advocates have fought for and won state clean energy laws (Renewable Portfolio Standards) that require utilities to purchase credits from local solar projects.
For every 1,000 kilowatt hours generated by panels, companies can sell one SREC to the utility at a price set by laws in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. SRECs are only a sure bet in the short term, since their value is dependent on state laws that could change.
Some companies that own solar panels will sell all of the SRECs the project will ever generate to an SREC aggregator who buys them up front at a discount, absorbing the risk and delay.
Your congregation's solar prospects depend a lot on location.SREC prices, which are determined by the strength of state solar laws, are the major reason that the solar markets in DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia are so different.
DC has the strongest SREC market, followed by Maryland, with Virginia third.
For example, compare SREC prices in Spring 2023:
Look up the current SREC market for each state here.
A note for Maryland congregations very near the DC line: Solar projects in Maryland that are on DC feeder lines may be able to get more favorable solar proposals because developers can sell SRECS generated by your project into the much-more-lucrative DC market. Take a look at this Pepco DC feeder map to see if your congregation may feed into the DC electric grid.
PPA’s set the terms on which congregations will pay the company that owns their solar panels for the power generated by those panels, and the percentage by which this rate will escalate each year. PPA providers will aim to set their per-kWh energy costs just at or slightly below the congregation’s current grid energy prices – which is why providing 12 months of energy bills is often the first step of seeking a PPA proposal.
Remember, though: these companies are making money on the solar project through tax credits, depreciation, and SREC sales, so the payments made by the congregation itself represent only a sliver of the money they’re making on the project.
Particularly in DC, some developers are making so much selling SRECS in DC’s market that they are even offering “zero PPAs” giving the solar energy to the congregations for free, because they don’t need any payments from the congregation at all to turn a profit from the panels they put up on the congregation.
So, even if you sign a PPA that specifies energy payments annually for 20 years, understand that the company has made most of their money on your solar project after the first 5-7 years, and may be willing to talk about shifting ownership of the panels back to the congregation after that time.
The rector who oversaw one of the first congregational solar projects in our region recalled that everyone in the church who had input on the solar project needed to be told how PPA financing worked fourteen or fifteen times … each.
This is slow, patient community-organizing work.
Take it from those who’ve learned the hard way: if you rush to get solar proposals without doing the people work first, decision-makers may raise unexpected objections that derail even very favorable solar proposals.
Once a developer has spent time preparing a proposal for your property, it may be too late to go back and start helping your congregation’s decision-makers to understand PPA financing for the first time if they’ve never gotten their minds around it before.
1. Make sure you understand the basics of PPA financing (start from the top and read this page again!)
2. Then make sure every decision-maker in your congregation who will need to bless this project understands PPA financing too.
A note: Run towards the skeptics and curmudgeons – talk to them first! Hear them out. Learn from their questions and spend time addressing their concerns (such as, “Can our congregation’s roof even handle solar panels?“) . Doing this organizing work in advance will make all the difference.
When your congregation is ready to explore going solar, get in touch: solar@ipldmv.org. You can expect to be asked for 12 months of energy bills, and for what material the roof is made of and how many years it has left.
In faith communities, we feel tremendously protective of our often-historic and always beloved sanctuaries. In congregational conversations about solar projects, we’ve seen this protectiveness express itself in lots of “roof anxiety.” If folks in your congregation raise concerns about the suitability or weight capacity of your roof, you can empathize with their feelings, while also reassuring them that there are many safeguards to prevent a solar project from going up on an inappropriate roof:
In some cases, solar panels on your congregation’s roof or grounds would be visible to passers by — raising questions and feelings about making changes to the appearance of a beloved prayer facility. Solar panels are a more and more familiar sight, and you can help your community envision what a proposed solar project on your building or property might look like by visiting some solar congregations nearby, or by clicking through the photos on our solar map .
While what looks “nice” to each of us is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, more than one faith community has come to see their solar panels being publicly visible as a perk, not a bug. Our congregations strive to show moral leadership, and solar panels proclaim a community’s commitment to climate protection publicly.
The Rt. Rev Scott Benhase, who was at St. Alban’s Parish in DC when the church’s parsonage went solar in 2009, described their solar panels as “our newest stained-glass windows,” which like their traditional stained glass helped tell their story to all.
“Visitors to Ocean City who come worship at St. Peter’s often inquire how they might replicate our efforts in their home congregation,” wrote Rev. Greg Knepp in Delmarva Now . The Lutheran church he led embraced their new identity as “the church on Coastal Highway with the solar panels.” “We’re only one of hundreds of congregations across Maryland who are proud of our commitment to creation care, and are striving to serve as beacons to the larger community,” he wrote in 2017. “The Gospel of Matthew teaches this: ‘Neither do people light a candle and hide it under a bushel, but rather raise it on a candlestick, so it gives light to all.’”
In this video, our Director Joelle presents the same information above, but please note that, since recording, the Inflation Reduction Act has raised the federal tax credit to 30%, and made that credit “monetizable” by tax-exempt organizations.
