St George’s Parish, Belfast, has installed just over 3 kilowatts of photovoltaic panels on its roof to convert sunlight into electricity. Some of the electricity produced by the panels is consumed in the church while anything not required to power the church goes onto the grid.
It is estimated that the 1500 kilowatt hours produced each year should avoid about £120 worth of electricity charges and earn about £110 from sales. Although this might not seem a massive saving and the panels were expensive to install (St George’s received a grant), the parish is also helping the environment.
On average, each kilowatt hour of mainstream electricity represents about half a kilogramme of CO2 emitted into the environment. With the increased price of electricity, the value of on-site generation to the church will obviously increase.
St George’s receives electricity from a green supplier and has also changed from oil to gas. “While there is a lot more we should be doing, these are some useful initial steps,” says parishioner Douglas McIldoon.
Photovoltaic panels should not be confused with solar panels, which heat water. Solar panels make little sense for most churches because churches don’t tend to use a lot of hot water.