Maine Solar Solutions installed an 8kW rooftop array atop The Neighborhood UCC in Bath, Maine. (Photos Sam Saltonstall)
Sam Saltonstall
The Neighborhood UCC in Bath, Maine is the 2022 winner of the Community Inspiration category of Interfaith Power and Light’s (IPL) Cool Congregations Challenge for its persistence in successfully persuading the city to update its land-use code to allow solar installations in the historic district of their community.
In 2015, we sold our old place of worship and purchased a small steakhouse in the downtown where we could both worship and use the commercial kitchen to help us feed the food-insecure. The building was heated with propane but had a perfect south-facing orientation for solar, and we wanted to reduce our use of fossil fuels. We were inspired to serve as a visible role model for our community, and for that reason wanted to acquire a rooftop solar PV system rather than join a distant community solar farm.
We knew we must make the building more energy efficient and electrify our heating system to sensibly realize our solar hopes, but there was no money in the budget for energy improvements. A leaky rubber membrane on the flat portion of the roof had failed and needed immediate replacement. A search for the source of the leak led to the unhappy discovery that when the steakhouse owner added the pitched roof to what had been a flat-roofed gas station, he added no attic insulation. We needed an energy audit, but there was no money for that either. The path to solar would require a series of small steps to be undertaken one at a time as we raised the money to pay for them.
In April 2020, we discovered that the land use code forbad solar visible from the street within the historic district where we were located. We would have to get the code changed to realize our goal. Solar success suddenly seemed doubtful.
Back to 2017, we set about raising money ($1,300 for the roof repair, $450 for the energy audit capably performed by Topher Belknap of Green Fret Consulting). Our sexton sealed air leaks identified during the blower door test with inexpensive caulk. A team of church volunteers blew 14 inches of cellulose insulation up into the attic ($1,700). We inventoried and upgraded our lights, built and installed insulating window inserts, and continued to raise money with concerts, a plant sale and a silent auction. By 2019 we had enough to install a Fujitsu mini-split air source heat pump capably supplied by North East Heat Pumps ($3,900). We were electrified!
It was time to face the solar challenge. We had already spent about $7,500, but the solar estimate was almost $23,000, more than three times as much as we had already raised. What to do? We managed $3,000 of additional fundraising and a $4,400 solar bequest arrived, then found four generous individuals willing to lend us the $15,000-plus needed. But when our contractor went to pull the electrical permit, we discovered the zoning problem.
Members of The Neighborhood United Church of Christ proudly display the rooftop solar after overcoming zoning and financial obstacles.
Determined, our solar team submitted a zoning code amendment for approval. The Planning Board did not like our first attempt but passed our second one on to the City Council. They tabled it, sending it back. The Planning Board’s third wording attempt passed the Council unanimously, and on September 20, Maine Solar Solutions installed and turned on our new system. Hooray!
While it is too early to know the reduction in CO2 emissions or the savings we will harvest, we believe that over the five-year term of the loans the church will see about $9,000 in reduced electricity costs from the 8kW array of 20 Solaria 400-watt black panels. The bulk of our energy will be sourced from the solar system, which has a modeled annual output of 10,076 kWh per yr. By applying the savings to paying the loans back, we should only need to raise an additional $1,550 annually for five years, after which we are home free. An online auction last fall netted $2,370 and may become our go-to annual solar fundraiser.
Meanwhile, the change in the land use code makes it possible for others within the historic district to install properly sited solar arrays visible from the street. Without the initiative we took, this would not be possible. We had persuaded the City Council to not only treasure Bath’s past but to also support its clean energy future in a very specific way. Our step-by-step success has led to a heightened sense of confidence within our faith community, confidence that can lead to further efforts for the common good.
It was the urgency of the climate crisis and the knowledge that local mitigation efforts undertaken quickly are of critical importance that motivated our effort. And it was patience, persistence and the smart decision to borrow money from four individuals closely connected with the church that led to our success.
Sam makes his home in Brunswick ME, where he is a Citizens’ Climate Lobby Chapter Leader, led the charge to get solar up on his faith group’s roof, and is Co-Coordinator of WindowDressers’ Brunswick Community Build. Sam is winner of the 2021 Natural Resource Council of Maine People’s Choice Award.
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