Going Solar
Valley Presbyterian Church of Green Valley has gone solar! The church's new 60.90kW system, comprised of 140 SunPower 435w solar modules, will annually generate 105,235 kWh of clean electricity, providing the Valley Presbyterian Church of Green Valley with approximately 85% of their annual electrical needs.

"We first started discussing solar with Valley Presbyterian Church in 2012 and are thrilled to have finally made it a reality for them. The church is such a beautiful and unique building in Green Valley and we wanted to make sure to install their solar shade canopy in a way that was least disruptive to the campus and the surrounding community," says Danielle Fidel, Director of Commercial Solar at TFS.

Treasurer Donald Brooks says:
"When I was appointed Treasurer of Valley Presbyterian in Nov 2016 I was surprised to find that our 2016 electrical costs were in excess of $19,000: by far the church’s largest operating expense. We consulted with other churches in the area that had already installed solar and their support was invaluable, with research revealing ways for a non-profit to go solar without having to endure the large up front installation costs.

There are solar services providers that address the needs of non-profit organizations by charging for the power produced by the systems they install, but at a rate less than what a local electric utility is charging. For the installation, we chose Technicians For Sustainability (TFS) who had done similar successful church installations both here in Green Valley and Tucson and had a working relationship with a solar service provider. Our working relationship with TFS has been outstanding as they assisted us to properly size the system and made contact with our solar services provider. TFS installed the system without any disruption to church activities.

We are eagerly looking forward to see how our solar energy system performs. If the system performs as advertised our plan is to purchase the system after five years so we can take full advantage of the potential savings.

Oh, by the way, we now have some shaded parking, so get to church early!"