The Our Mother of Sorrows Parrish has served the Tucson community for many years.  They strive to provide their parish with good examples by reaching out to those in need and through sharing faith and love with one another and God.  Their dedication has led them to power their facility by the sun.

Adding solar power to the sanctuary roof and two solar parking structure arrays allows them to more fully take advantage of God’s gifts.  Anne Marie King, the Our Mother of Sorrows Parish business manager said that they ultimately chose to install solar “to become better, more faithful stewards of God’s creation and to set an example and be a leader for other parishes in the Diocese of Tucson in promoting solar energy.”

The environmental and social benefits to Our Mother of Sorrow’s photovoltaic system are dramatic.  The solar array will offset 425,488 lbs of CO2 annually, and prevent other toxic chemicals from entering the air.  In addition to the photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, the facility also has three solar hot water heaters which allow the church to use water heated by the sun.  These systems allow the church to reach its goals by being good stewards and preserving the earth for future generations.  “Solar power is a gift from God to be used wisely to help protect our environment for future generations.”

Watch the AZPM piece on Our Mother of Sorrows Solar Project here.

The parishioners at Our Mother of Sorrows believe that their solar arrays and dedication to the planet is setting a good example.  The solar shading structures are very visible to the community and are helping to encourage other churches and parishioners to make the move to solar power.

The electricity produced by Our Mother of Sorrows’ solar array will be approximately 191,000 kWh annually and this will cover 60% of their total usage.  This offers the church significant energy savings of up to $2,000 a month and the savings can now be put towards other church activities and charities.

Their access to solar was made possible through loans by parishioners who financed the operation.  The church will receive the energy and utility bill savings and will have the opportunity to purchase the system outright in 10 years.  This unique system is allowing churches and nonprofits to make a move towards solar that would have been financially out of reach in the past.