The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington is using one of its properties to generate clean energy.
Catholic sisters living in a convent in northeast Washington, D.C., used to look out their windows at a big, empty field. Now they gaze out at a solar farm that, in spring, will have flowers blooming between the panels.
The convent sits on 14 acres of land owned by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington. A few years ago, the group decided to use that property to make clean energy.
A five-acre solar installation now generates enough power to offset the electricity used at the group’s 12 buildings across D.C.
“So it’s driving substantial energy cost reductions to the tune of well over $300,000 a year,” says Page Gravely, president of Mission Energy.
The group helped plan and develop the project through a program called Catholic Energies.
