Virtuous & Fiscally Responsible
By Max Wagner, Investor Development Associate
At Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) in Acton, MA, High Holiday services looked and sounded a little different this year than they usually do. During normal times, families gather and fill the rooms of the temple with music and prayer. This time, families still gathered, but, as they’ve done since the pandemic began last spring, they did so over Zoom calls instead. It’s unclear when in-person services will return to CBE, but when they do, a 302 kW solar canopy over the temple’s parking lot awaits them.
“The families in our congregation are very excited about the canopy,” says CBE Rabbi Mike Rothbaum. “Some families have even come back to the parking lot just to see the solar project.”
The project is the result of a partnership between the synagogue, 621 Energy and Sunwealth and is the largest solar installation at any house of worship in Massachusetts. Installed at no cost to the congregation, the project will provide CBE with clean energy, energy savings and lease revenue over the life of the system. Through Sunwealth’s low-income solar initiative and a community solar agreement, it will also deliver clean energy savings to income-eligible households across Greater Boston – providing CBE with an opportunity to help their neighbors as they do what’s right for the synagogue and the environment.
Community solar agreements are a key tool for increasing solar access. For the estimated 77% of U.S. households unable to go solar – renters, people with low credit scores, and homeowners with shaded roofs – they provide an opportunity to purchase clean energy generated somewhere else. Historically, low-income households have been underrepresented among community solar customers.
Sunwealth is working to change that, partnering with groups like the Wayland Housing Authority and local nonprofit All In Energy to raise awareness about community solar and the energy savings that come with it. Together, we are working to get eligible households signed up for the community solar program, which will enable them to purchase power at a 25% discount; in the process, we’re also helping eligible households sign up for the utility companies’ R2 rate program, which entitles them to purchase power at a reduced rate.
For CBE’s Solar Team, setting up the project as a low-income community solar initiative made perfect sense. Explained Rabbi Rothbaum, “There’s an idea that you can either be virtuous or you can be fiscally responsible—we are doing both.”
The installation is expected to deliver $287K in savings and lease payments to the temple over its estimated 30-year lifetime. These savings can be used to support CBE’s programming, including an on-site early learning center that has continued to operate throughout the pandemic. The installations also provide a visible reminder of the congregation’s commitment to the Jewish value of shmirat ha’adamah, guarding the earth.
CBE Solar Team member Barry Nyer, who helped champion the project from the beginning, agreed, stating, “This project is a message to the next generation that we are committed to taking action on the issues of our time.”
At a time of year when the Jewish community traditionally reflects on the past and also marks new beginnings, CBE’s new solar canopy represents one of those new beginnings in which the entire congregation can take pride.
Max Wagner is the Investor Development Associate at Sunwealth. He is a solar energy and public lands advocate who believes clean energy is a critical tool for combatting climate change and building a more equitable world for the next generation.