Epworth United Methodist Church (UMC) in Durham, North Carolina, has long been a congregation committed to living its faith through action. In July 2023, driven by the values of environmental stewardship, economic justice, and fiscal responsibility, the congregation took a bold step to align its operations with its mission: caring for God’s creation, and installed 219 solar panels across six rooftops.
Photo courtesy of Epworth United Methodist Church.
This system is expected to generate around 75% of their energy needs, making Epworth a model for clean energy in Durham. With the church expected to recoup its out-of-pocket investment in six years thanks to energy bill savings, Epworth is inspiring its congregation and community to consider solar.
For churches interested in solar, Epworth’s message is clear: the time is now.
“Act quickly before the current federal administration can reduce incentives.” – Epworth UMC’s Creation Care Committee
Solar Made Possible by Federal and Utility Support
The $63,000 project was made feasible by leveraging key incentives. Epworth received rebates from Duke Energy as well as a direct federal payment. Tax credits are a new incentive for many congregations, since prior to 2022, tax-exempt organizations like churches and other nonprofits were ineligible for the clean energy tax credits that for-profit businesses could benefit from. That changed in 2022 with the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which established a program allowing tax-exempt organizations to receive a direct payment from the IRS equal to the value of the tax credit. The IRA includes provisions for several clean energy tax credits to be obtained through direct pay. Together, these supports significantly reduced the system’s up-front cost.
The church remains connected to the grid and benefits from net metering, receiving credits for any excess power generated and contributing to the community’s overall energy supply.
Stewardship of Creation Starts at Home
For Epworth UMC, solar isn’t just about saving money—it is a spiritual decision.
The United Methodist Church’s Social Principle states that “All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for how we use and abuse it.” That theological grounding led the congregation to take responsibility for their carbon footprint and model climate action for their community.
In 2022, the church established a Creation Care Committee, a group responsible for ensuring that Epworth was doing its part to protect the Earth. Committee members began with simple steps—starting a composting program and conducting an energy audit—and then set their sights on a bigger goal: solar energy.
Several Creation Care Committee members already had solar on their homes, which gave the church confidence to explore options for their facility. What followed was a collaborative process across multiple church committees—Trustees, Finance, Endowment, and others—with plenty of prayer and discernment along the way.
After receiving quotes from three local solar installers, the committee selected a proposal and brought it to the Trustees Committee, which approved it unanimously. The Finance Committee weighed in on funding options, and the Endowment Committee ultimately voted to support the full cost as a capital improvement to the church.
The result: a solar array designed to generate approximately 126,000 kilowatt hours of clean energy each year.
Nearly two years in, the results are already clear. The system has produced more than 216 megawatt hours of electricity and prevented an estimated 168 tons of CO₂ emissions. Real-time tracking enables the congregation to monitor performance and environmental impact.
The installation also offers a huge financial benefit: the church expects to recoup its out-of-pocket investment within six years thanks to lower electricity bills.
Lifting the Whole Community
Epworth’s solar success hasn’t stayed within its sanctuary walls. Updates from the pulpit, displays in church halls, and information shared through the congregation’s weekly bulletin board, Etchings, keep members informed and inspired.
Churchgoers have responded enthusiastically, with many now considering solar for their own homes. The congregation is one of many communities across the Southeast benefiting from lower power bills thanks to clean energy. These communities are emblematic of the Clean Energy Generation, a diverse movement of Southeasterners working for a healthier and more sustainable future.
The Creation Care Committee hopes their experience will serve as a blueprint for other churches and community organizations considering renewable energy.
They recommend starting with a simple solar viability check using tools like Google’s Project Sunroof, reaching out to local installers for quotes, and exploring partnerships with energy providers.
A Witness to What’s Possible
Epworth United Methodist Church shows that when a faith community aligns its mission with its operations, the impact can be financially, environmentally, and spiritually powerful. Their solar journey reflects a deep commitment to creation care and offers a shining example to congregations across the Southeast.
As more houses of worship seek to lead by example in the climate movement, Epworth’s story reminds us that clean energy is more than a technical fix—it’s an act of faith.
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The post How a Durham Church Installed Solar Panels and Became a Clean Energy Leader appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
How a Durham Church Installed Solar Panels and Became a Clean Energy Leader
It hasn’t been a good last 10 years for those who believe in free speech, rule of law, human rights, and justice.
Maybe we can somehow turn this around.
If you’re trying to quantify how completely f***ed up the United States is at this point, I refer you to the meme here.
Was it the left that stormed the Capitol, launched a pointless and illegal war in Iran, worked to stifle voting, indicted political opponents, gave tax breaks to billionaires, cut important government programs, threatened to annex Canada and Greenland, gave Trump, his family, and his businesses immunity from all audits and investigations for any past tax-related misconduct, and made our transportation system and electric grid dirtier?
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Australia’s $17B Grid Expansion, Recycling Blades to Steel
Allen covers Suzlon hitting 2 GW in a single Indian state, Nabrawind’s crane-free turbine install in Namibia, Antora’s South Dakota thermal battery, Australia’s $17 billion grid expansion, and Shimizu recycling old turbine blades into steel.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
GOOD MORNING.
The wind industry is not just getting bigger.
It is getting smarter.
And today … we have the proof.
Let us start in India.
SUZLON GROUP just crossed a milestone.
Two gigawatts of wind orders … in a single Indian state.
The latest deal … sixty-five turbines at three megawatts each
for a company called SUNSURE ENERGY.
SUNSURE is not a utility.
It is an independent power producer
building round-the-clock clean energy
for data centers … electric vehicles … and heavy industry.
Wind paired with solar and battery storage.
Power that does not stop when the sun goes down.
SUZLON is already building six hundred and sixty-four megawatts
of additional commercial and industrial projects in the same region.
And SUNSURE … backed by PARTNERS GROUP of Switzerland …
has seven gigawatts in development across India
with a target of ten gigawatts by two thousand thirty.
That is not government-led.
That is private capital chasing wind.
Now … across the ocean to Africa.
A Spanish company called NABRAWIND [NAH-brah-wind]
just solved a problem that has plagued remote wind farms for years.
How do you install a turbine
when you cannot get a crane to the site?
Their answer is a system called SKYLIFT.
No heavy-lift cranes. None.
A self-erecting tower combined with a blade installation tool
they call the BLADERUNNER.
They just put up a GOLDWIND six-megawatt turbine
at a wind farm in NAMIBIA.
And here is the part that changes the math.
Traditional crane installation needs calm air.
Six to eight meters per second. Maximum.
NABRAWIND’s system works in fifteen meters per second sustained …
with gusts up to twenty.
That site blows hard. All the time.
Which is exactly why they chose it.
When complete … seven turbines …
two hundred and thirty gigawatt-hours a year.
About six percent of NAMIBIA’s entire electricity demand.
NABRAWIND was acquired by Australia’s FORTESCUE last year
as part of its industrial decarbonization push.
So India is stacking private-sector wind orders.
Africa is installing turbines without cranes.
And in SOUTH DAKOTA …
they are storing the wind itself.
A California startup called ANTORA ENERGY
just built a five-gigawatt-hour thermal battery
at an ethanol plant in BIG STONE CITY.
More than two hundred solid carbon blocks.
When the wind blows at night and nobody needs the power …
the blocks absorb cheap electricity and heat up.
When the plant needs energy …
the blocks release heat or generate electricity
through special cells that capture light
from superheated material.
Think of it as a giant toaster oven battery.
Full power expected by October.
The plant’s president put it simply.
Nobody has got a switch for the wind.
It blows when it wants to blow.
Now … down under.
The AUSTRALIAN government just announced
the biggest single expansion of its electricity grid.
Nineteen renewable energy projects.
Seven-point-eight gigawatts of generation.
Seven-point-nine gigawatt-hours of battery storage.
Seventeen billion dollars in private investment.
Nineteen thousand construction jobs.
Power for four million homes.
Among the largest … RWE’s [arr-vay’s] THEODORE wind farm in QUEENSLAND.
One-point-one gigawatts. Up to one hundred and seventy turbines.
Three billion Australian dollars.
RWE … the same company building offshore wind
in England and Denmark …
is now building onshore in AUSTRALIA.
And the AUSTRALIAN government is not stopping.
They just opened the next round of tenders.
Another five gigawatts.
Finally … JAPAN.
Major contractor SHIMIZU [shee-MEE-zoo] CORPORATION
has developed a way to recycle old wind turbine blades.
Not into park benches. Not into landfill.
Into steel.
The blades are cut and crushed into a material
that goes into electric furnaces
to adjust the carbon content of steel …
making it harder and stronger.
JAPAN expects to replace one hundred to two hundred turbines a year
by the two thousand thirties.
That is two to three thousand tonnes of blade waste. Annually.
SHIMIZU has built about twenty percent
of the wind power facilities in JAPAN.
They see this technology as a way to grow
their entire wind energy business.
So … let us step back.
India stacks two gigawatts of private-sector wind orders.
Africa installs turbines in gale-force winds … without a crane.
South Dakota stores surplus wind in superheated carbon blocks.
Australia backs nineteen projects with seventeen billion dollars.
And Japan turns old blades into stronger steel.
From the factory floor to the scrap yard …
from the wind farm to the furnace …
the industry is solving problems
at every stage of a turbine’s life.
And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 25th of May 2026.
Join us for the UPTIME WIND ENERGY PODCAST tomorrow.
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