Secure Solar Futures sets up 313-kW array atop Virginia homeless shelter

• This month, CARITAS started powering its one-of-a-kind healing and homeless solutions facility in Richmond, Virginia, with solar power.

Secure Solar Futures of Staunton installed 782 Heliene photovoltaic or pv photovoltaic panels, making up the largest solar energy system at any facility offering homeless individuals in Virginia, and perhaps on the East Coast. The 313-kW solar array is approximated to cut the organization's electric utility bills by $224,358 over the following 25 years.

" Solar power will save money on energy that CARITAS can relate to their objective helpful individuals enhance their lives," stated Ryan McAllister, Chief Executive Officer of Secure Solar Futures. "The flat roofing system of the previous storehouse structure that they transformed right into a lovely energy reliable space was flawlessly suited to hosting a solar energy system huge enough to make CARITAS a leader on clean energy."

Secure Solar will certainly run the solar power system, which is anticipated to cover a significant portion of the new facility's energy use by producing sufficient clean energy to power the matching of 39 typical homes.

" There's nothing else organization quite like CARITAS because we supply every one of the remedies to homelessness as well as dependency under one roofing," said Karen Stanley, president and also CEO of CARITAS. "Our commitment to giving an alternative solution to homelessness and addiction starts with the building."

Stanley is describing the CARITAS Center, which opened up in 2020. The center houses a new women's healing program as well as sober-living apartment or condo community in addition to its emergency situation shelter, workforce development program as well as furnishings bank programs. More than 100 employee assist offer assistance to the community at the center, in addition to a 2nd location at 700 Dinwiddie Avenue. Last year, the not-for-profit provided 36,000 nights of shelter to men and women in its recovery program and 15,653 evenings of shelter in its emergency situation shelter.

" We worked with indoor developers as well as architects with experience in the hospitality market so our space feels more like a home than an institution," Stanley stated. "As a willful part of attaining that objective, we infused a variety of clean energy elements right into the building that reflect the value put on our participant and personnel mental and physical wellness."

The decision to add solar power at the new facility follows the commitment of CARITAS to effective stewardship of resources that are both economic as well as ecological. The structure also integrates about 45 solar tubes, which will filter all-natural light throughout the Center. Other home appliances are ENERGY STAR certified to manage use as well as prices. Toilets in the building additionally include automatic shut-off functions.

Secure Solar set up the solar power tools at no upfront capital expense to CARITAS and also will operate the system under a 25-year power purchase contract. Over that term, CARITAS will certainly purchase all the electricity created by the solar panels located on-site from Secure Solar at a price lower than usually available. CARITAS will utilize a $17,000 give from the RVA Solar Fund, carried out by the Community Foundation for a higher Richmond.