Let There Be Light
Community Church wishes to acknowledge the work done by Walter Mugdan to make this project possible and thank him for his expertise, dedication, passion and faithful service to our church.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
“… God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good….” (Genesis 1:3-4)
Sunlight Is Good Indeed!
And on August 19, 2025, we at the Community Church of Douglaston (CCD) started using it to make electricity. Our new solar photovoltaic array, installed on the flat roof of our Education building, is expected to generate about 55% of the electricity we use each year to power our entire campus (including the Sanctuary and the Cottage). The solar energy generated by our 47 photovoltaic panels will offset as much greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) as would be emitted by gasoline-powered automobiles driving 30,000 miles per year.
A Long Journey...
It's been a long journey that began in September 2023 when Pastor Albert agreed that we should investigate the possibility of solar energy for the church. It made sense to do so because of two government incentive programs that together significantly lower the cost of installation and thus accelerate the “payback time” – the point at which the cumulative savings in our utility bills exceed the expense of the installation.
New York State provides a significant incentive payment directly to the company that installs a solar array. In our case, the installer will receive back from the State nearly 28% of its costs ($0.80/watt), lowering the price we pay to the installer by almost $20,000.
Of critical importance to our calculations was a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, where Congress for the first time authorized financial incentives for renewable energy projects to be paid directly to non-taxable entities such as churches. Previously, federal incentives were provided only through tax credits, which aren’t useful to entities that don’t pay taxes. Under the 2022 law, non-taxable entities receive a direct payment equal to 30% of the total cost of the renewable energy installation. For CCD, that works out to over $15,000. (Unfortunately, this incentive program will be discontinued starting in 2026, under the budget bill Congress passed earlier this year.)
An Economically Attractive Deal
The combination of the federal and state incentives made it economically attractive for CCD to proceed with the solar installation:
- CCD paid a total of $50,814 to the solar installation company.
- After we receive the federal incentive payment our net cost for the project will be $35,570.
- We expect that our Con Ed bill will be reduced by nearly $10,000 per year because of the electricity our solar system generates. That means our expected “payback time” will be about 3.6 years – around early 2029. In the interim, we plan to “pay ourselves back” by re-investing the Con Ed bill savings back into our bank account from which we paid for the installation.
The estimated annual savings noted above are based on 2024 electricity prices. The price of electricity continues to rise, so our actual annual savings are likely to be greater, and our “payback time” is likely to be shorter. Over 20 years, our total savings are likely to exceed $250,0000.)
Nothing Was Easy
Getting to the point of having the system installed and operational wasn’t easy. The first solar company we worked with was insufficiently familiar with unique New York City requirements, so we switched to a different installer. Then there were months of uncertainty about the size of the New York State incentive payment, because the state first had to determine whether a church should be considered a “residential” or “commercial” establishment (or some hybrid classification); that issue was finally resolved in December 2024. Soon thereafter, the threat of large U.S. tariffs caused nation-wide delays in the supply chain for solar panels, as more than 80% of the world’s solar panels are made in China.
Work finally began on June 23. Installation of 47 panels and the associated electric equipment was completed in late July. It took a few more weeks to get final approvals from the NYC Building Department and Con Edison before the system finally became operational on August 19.
The solar array produces the most electricity between April and October, when the days are longer and the sun is higher in the sky. Less electricity is produced between November and March. And, of course, the solar array only works when the sun is shining; and even then, it may not provide all the electricity we need at any given moment. We therefore continue to buy electricity from the grid year-round. We have an “app” that allows us to monitor the output of the solar system in real time. Our monthly Con Ed bills will also show that we are buying much less electricity from the grid because of our solar production.
Thanks to Pastor Albert, the members of the Consistory, Treasurer Dennis Pidherny, Buildings and Grounds Chair Ed LaGrassa, and CCD Secretary Madeline Pearson for their steadfast support and all they have done to help bring this project to fruition!
Life Created By The Sun
Ultimately, all of life on earth – including all the food we eat and all the energy we use to power ourselves and our modern industrial society – is created by the sun. The sun’s energy allows plants to grow, and animals eat those plants (or eat other animals that eat plants). Plants and animals that lived millions of years ago were converted into the coal and oil and natural gas that we humans all still depend on.
The earth receives more solar energy each day than the amount of energy the entire world uses in a year. And the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth in a single year exceeds all known energy reserves of coal, oil, natural gas and uranium put together.*
The sunlight is good, indeed! And it is good that we at CCD are now able to use that light – not only to reduce our utility payments, but also to reduce our “carbon footprint” and thereby help do our small part to protect our world.
-Walter Mugdan
September 2025