‘Innovative’ solar project on Hunting Park church will help nearby households pay their electricity bills

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The One Hope Community Church in North Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood is going solar, and it plans to share its savings with neighbors.

A 27-kilowatt array being completed on the church’s roof this week will produce more electricity than the church uses each year. Part of the savings and the value of renewable energy credits produced by the project will fund small grants to help four nearby households pay their bills.

The arrangement is a way to sidestep Pennsylvania regulations that do not allow community solar, a model in which multiple households share the power from a single solar array.

“This is an innovative way for solar to provide benefits to the community, without violating the community solar rules,” said Julian Burnett, community engagement manager at Solar States, which installed the array.

Community solar is an option in Delaware and New Jersey. Pennsylvania lawmakers and advocates have been working for years to enable it in their state. 

In a typical community solar project, a group of households use the power from a shared solar array. They can be renters who don’t own their rooftops, or homeowners who can’t afford the big upfront cost of their own solar systems. Credits from the shared power reduce the households’ electric bills.

The solar array on the One Hope Community Church roof will be owned by a nonprofit made up of local faith and community leaders called the Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative. That organization will share in the revenue generated by the panels, which will fund $600 grants to four households and one neighborhood nonprofit each year. The upfront cost of the array — $75,000 — was funded by donations, including some from several faith groups.

“That’s giving away $3,000 a year to the community, all powered by the sun,” said Allen Drew, director of the Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative and pastor in the Christian Reformed Church.

Drew said that while the intention is for the funds to help pay electric bills, currently, the cash awards are not tied to a specific bill.

The coalition hopes to take advantage of a federal tax credit for the project before it expires, and use the money to start another similar project.

The nearby Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Center, which helps households apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and other energy assistance programs, will distribute the grants to low-income households in the neighborhood. Households can receive the grants for up to three years in a row, and will be selected through a lottery, Drew said.

Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Center Executive Director Charles Lanier says the unique model makes renewable energy accessible.

“People who are higher income who can afford solar paneling, that’s great,” he said. “But for our community, they’re just struggling day-to-day to survive and pay their bills.”

Residents sometimes come to the Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Center with utility bill balances of $1,000 to $3,000, Lanier said. Some spend between one-third and half of their income on energy bills, he said.

While a $600 grant won’t fully cover a household’s energy bill for a year, he said, “it does help tremendously.”

Burnett hopes the model can be replicated.

“This provides an excellent opportunity for individuals to learn about solar and benefit from solar, and hopefully spread this thing across the entire city and maybe the entire state,” he said.

The initial grants are expected to be distributed to households in late 2026 or early 2027, Drew said.

Editor’s note: The story was updated to clarify the structure of the Hunting Park Community Solar Initiative.