About our Solar Panels

Clean energy helps our environment, and our Food Pantry by freeing up more resources to dedicate to helping our community.

Since April of 2017 we have stepped up our sustainable practices by offsetting a portion of our electrical usage with solar panels. We worked with Portland, ME-based Revision Energy to install a 24.4 kilowatt grid-tied solar electric system.

When the sun is shining, the 87 solar panels on the roof of our Food Pantry produce electricity that is either used in real-time by our building, or fed back to the grid where it benefits our community (and earns us a credit). Each year, the system will generate roughly 26,891 kilowatt-hours (kWhs) of electricity, offsetting the equivalent of over 46,400 miles driven in a gas-powered car.

The project was financed through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), which means that the Food Pantry paid no upfront fee to install the solar panels. Instead, an investor (in this case, ReVision) pays for the upfront cost while the Food Pantry pays for the power generated from the solar panels each month, rather than paying for power from the grid. After a period of time, the Food Pantry can opt to buy the system from the investor (at a significantly reduced price) and own all the solar power generated outright!

See what our system is producing, both today and across its lifetime, here