Trinity Episcopal Church and Unitarian Universalist Church have dreamed of solar power for years. The Inflation Reduction Act and Georgia BRIGHT made their dreams a reality.

Trinity Episcopal Church traces its new Georgia BRIGHT solar installation all the way back to Genesis. When the Statesboro, Georgia, church completed its installation in July 2024, it marked the culmination of years of work to become a leader in creation care, a form of environmental stewardship central to the Episcopal Church. 

A Spiritual Outlook on Renewable Energy

Rector Father Charles Todd believes care for the earth is essential to a healthy spirituality. According to Fr. Todd, it’s a matter of a difference in translation.

“The verse from John 3:16 that people love to quote shapes this understanding because what it actually says when it says, ‘God so loved the world,’ is that, ‘God so loved the cosmos,’” Fr. Todd said. “The English focus is on humanity, but in Greek, the word is cosmos.”

Fr. Todd said the focus on humanity is too narrow an understanding of creation. Trinity Episcopal aims to care for all creation through tangible, embodied, and incarnate practice. This belief led Trinity to set a goal for the Parish to become a recognized leader in creation care. 

The church began considering solar in 2016 after an energy audit through Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL), a national Interfaith Power & Light movement member promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation within religious communities. Trinity viewed three solar proposals but found them insufficient to meet their energy needs due to size and the lack of tax benefits available to nonprofit organizations.

When Dr. Lissa Leege, a biology professor at Georgia Southern University, joined Trinity’s green team around this same time, her presence became another key component of the church’s sustainability goals. Dr. Leege brought many environmental advocacy ideas to the church, including starting a community garden, biodiversifying the campus, and achieving a national wildlife habitat certification. Today, the campus provides pollinator gardens, hosts a native plant arboretum, and provides food, water, cover and places for wildlife to raise their young. 

The Inflation Reduction Act Opened Solar Funding to Nonprofits

Although Fr. Todd and Dr. Leege had dreamed of solar power for over five years, it wasn’t a financial reality until the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. Previously, solar tax credits were available only to tax-paying organizations and homeowners. Now, thanks to the IRA, nonprofit organizations can access federal tax credits through direct pay. 

GIPL introduced Trinity Episcopal to Georgia BRIGHT, a first-of-its-kind solar leasing program by Capital Good Fund. The IRA’s direct pay mechanism allows Georgia BRIGHT to claim the solar tax credit as a refund and share their savings with Georgia BRIGHT customers, reducing the upfront cost of solar energy systems by 30% or more and offering low-cost solar to low-income homeowners, houses of worship and other community organizations.

In the leasing program, which offers no initial cost to lessees, Georgia BRIGHT owns and maintains the solar panels while allowing participants to benefit from energy generation and savings. They also connect organizations with a vetted local solar installation partner, in this case, Sunpath Solar & Be Smart Home Solutions, who completed the installation. 

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Georgia BRIGHT program, we were able to obtain a larger solar array that will not only provide around half of our energy needs but will significantly reduce our carbon footprint and save us nearly $62,000 over 25 years – Rector Father Charles Todd, Trinity Episcopal Church, Statesboro, Ga.

Alicia Brown, director of Georgia BRIGHT, said the choice to offer solar to community and faith-based organizations was part of a strategic effort to build trust in solar power.

“The trust that residents place in faith-based organizations and the convening role that these organizations play in the community are key reasons they are critical partners in advancing solar adoption,” Brown said.

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab agree. A recent paper found that installing solar in schools, churches, government buildings, nonprofit facilities, and businesses led to a statistically significant increase in residential solar installations in the community. 

Trinity Episcopal Leads by Example

Trinity’s installation inspired its neighbors, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Statesboro (UUFS), to follow the solar adoption trend. After consulting with GIPL and Trinity Episcopal, UUFS decided to proceed with a Georgia BRIGHT installation in November 2024.

“We value the interdependent web of life and know that we must do our part as a congregation to help us all survive and thrive on this earth,” UUFS Rev. Dr. Jane Page said.

Trinity’s influence extends beyond Statesboro. The church has consulted with congregations and businesses in Brunswick, Atlanta, and even communities in Florida regarding their solar installations. 

“Not only does it inspire our parish to do more to care for the environment, but I have had numerous conversations with churches and businesses across the state who are considering solar,” Fr. Todd said. 

In the first full month since the system connected with Georgia Power on Dec. 6, 2024, Trinity’s solar array has generated 1.5 megawatt hours of energy and reduced its CO2 emissions by 1.1 tons — and the numbers continue to increase.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled with this level of production during the month with the least daylight,” Dr. Leege said. 

Now that Trinity has seen the benefits of their solar installation, the adoption process seems even more worthwhile. 

“We didn’t have to make a decision at all; it was already obvious. I mean, why would you not do this? I don’t know how you could say no.” – Dr. Lissa Leege, Professor of Biology, Georgia Southern University

Community and faith-based organizations like Trinity and UUFS are essential to spreading the word about opportunities like Georgia BRIGHT. The program’s partnership with GIPL has been a boon to developing trust within the community.

“Gaining trust has been a challenge because many low- and moderate-income neighborhoods have been unfairly targeted by bad actors in the solar space who want to take advantage of them,” Brown said. “Although Georgia BRIGHT has sounded too good to be true to some, the endorsement from our community partners, including Georgia Interfaith Power & Light, who have spent years building trust in the community, has verified the legitimacy of our program.”

Georgia BRIGHT’s Bright Future

In the coming year, Georgia BRIGHT plans to expand its reach with support from the EPA’s Solar for All program, which is funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Selected as a recipient on Earth Day 2024, the Georgia BRIGHT Coalition will use these federal funds to provide even more significant savings for households and introduce new initiatives to make solar energy accessible to more participants, regardless of their home condition, type, or ownership status.

For Fr. Todd, the most crucial thing for organizations interested in solar adoption to know is: don’t drag your feet. Take advantage of these incentives while they are available.

“I would encourage faith-based communities to think seriously about our responsibilities as stewards of creation,” Fr. Todd said. “If what we believe doesn’t shape and inform how we live, then we’re going about this the wrong way.”

Resources:

Georgia Interfaith Power & Light

Georgia BRIGHT

Learn more about the Inflation Reduction Act

Explore the EPA’s Solar for All Program

Check out Energy for All Y’all for more clean energy success stories in the Southeast!