Temple Sinai becomes first synagogue in Atlanta to install solar system on rooftop - SaportaReport
Read Temple Sinai becomes first synagogue in Atlanta to install solar system on rooftop by Mark Lannaman for SaportaReport here. Temple Sinai, a synagogue in Sandy Springs, has become the first synagogue in Atlanta to install a solar system on its roof. The system was installed by Cherry Street Energy, which has been installing solar systems throughout the city in partnership with the local government. The solar system is expected to provide up to 50 percent of the building’s energy demand over the course of 20 years, saving around $145,000 over that period. The power purchase agreement (PPA) avoided the upfront investment through a power purchase arrangement (PA) with Cherry Street, which makes money by selling electricity generated from the panels at a rate lower than the utility. The temple's executive director, Jack Feldman, said the system aligns with their core Jewish values and aligns closely with their mission of protecting the environment.
Publicados : 3 meses atrás por Mark Lannaman no Science
Temple Sinai, located in Sandy Springs, just became the first synagogue in Atlanta to incorporate a solar system to power their operations.
The system was installed by Cherry Street Energy, which has been installing solar systems throughout the city in partnership with the local government. The installation was finished mid-January, and paperwork to have it fully operational is expected to be completed within the next few weeks.
“Once energized, this solar plant will produce over 160,000 kWh of emission-electricity for the Temple,” Cherry Street Energy wrote on LinkedIn.
The plans for the system have been in the works for around two years, advanced by the temple’s Environmental Action and Awareness Committee. Jack Feldman, executive director of Temple Sinai, said financially the system made sense, but more importantly, it helped advance their mission of being good stewards to the environment.
“The idea was to raise up the importance of protecting and stewarding the environment,” Feldman said. “It aligns with our core Jewish values, but it also aligns with our interests in protecting the environment.”
The solar system is expected to provide anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of the building’s energy demand. Over the course of 20 years, it is estimated that it will amount to around $145,000 in savings, Feldman said.
One of the biggest hurdles with solar — the upfront investment — was avoided through a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Cherry Street. In this solar financial setup, the upfront investment of installation and purchasing of panels comes not from customers but instead from the solar provider. The solar provider — Cherry Street, in this case — makes money over a number of years by selling electricity generated from the panels to the customer at a rate lower than the utility. The customer saves with cheaper electricity than their utility provider would have charged, and the provider gets a revenue stream over a number of years.
Feldman explained that for this reason PPAs can be quite lucrative to nonprofits or religious organizations like churches and synagogues.
“Many are struggling financially, and you say to them: ‘We need a quarter of a million dollars and the payback on your energy reduction is going to be 20 years,’ they’re not going to do it,” Feldman said. “Whereas, with the [PPA] it allowed us to put it on the roof for free, and purchase the energy from Cherry Street at a reduced rate.”
More importantly, said Feldman, it allows the temple to source some of its electricity from a renewable source — and be the first synagogue in Atlanta to do so.
“We feel tremendous pride that we’re taking the lead; we’re hoping that others will follow our example, and I’m happy to talk to any other nonprofit, any church, any synagogue about our process and our success to encourage them to do the same thing,” Feldman said.
Environmental Action and Awareness Committee, which has since rebranded into Shomrei Adamah, or “Earth guardians” in Hebrew, said sustainability beyond solar panels has become a focus for the temple.
In the last year and a half, Feldman said, they have gone full-on recycling and composting in the last seven to eight months. In 2019, the temple replaced all their lights with more efficient LED lights. Recently, they also added a highly reflective roofing surface and strengthened their building envelope to reduce energy loss and cost.
“We’re all in on this,” Feldman said. “Our board unanimously approved this project, our membership is on board.”
Though the panels won’t power the entire temple, Feldman said should Georgia ever adopt net metering, which allows excess electricity generated from rooftop solar to be sold back to the grid at the same rate it’s bought at, it would work to expand the system.
For now, though, Temple Sinai is happy to be showing how structures like PPAs can allow for other buildings that can’t afford the upfront costs of solar and can still be a part of the clean energy transition.