Smyrna Congregation Energizes New Solar Project in Canby, Oregon
For over 125 years the Smyrna United Church of Christ in Canby, Oregon has provided a peaceful community hub for worship, friendship, and environmental stewardship. My grandfather Robert Kyrk enjoyed spending time on weekends helping to maintain the grounds well into his 80s. The little church, which has benefitted from generous donors and caretakers over the years, includes a well-maintained nave and meeting spaces, a quaint cemetery with a wrought iron gate, grounds surrounded by farmlands, and now its own solar project.
When I visited on a fall Sunday in 2018 Joel Daniels, church member and chair of the church’s Earth Care Committee mentioned that the committee planned to pursue planting one hundred oaks on a section of church property that wasn’t suitable for farming with funding from a Clackamas County Soil and Water Conservation District grant. I asked if the committee had considered using part of the sunny property for solar and Joel responded that they would like to learn more.
Our conversation was the impetus for designing the Smyrna UCC Solar Installation, a 13.68 kW, ground-mounted, 36-panel project sized to cover 100% of the church’s annual electricity use that started producing power on June 15, 2021.
Community Outreach and Support from the Congregation
The church’s Earth Care committee is dedicated to protecting the environment and combatting climate change. Joel shared that they held weekly salad suppers in the summers before the pandemic and invited speakers to come talk about topics including electric cars, recycling, LED lighting, and sustainable food preparation. Once I learned they were interested in solar I introduced Joel to Chet Zimmer of Energy Solutions (www.esolutions-or.com) and he was invited to come share information on solar with the congregation.
A few years prior, Clackamas County launched a big push to encourage homeowners to install solar. A few members of the congregation had signed up and were enthusiastic about finding a way for the church to have solar, too. In the community, Paul Yoder at the Yoder Store also put in a rooftop system. Joel said these early adopters “percolated interest around the community.”
Energy Solutions submitted a proposal to be submitted as a grant application to PGE’s Renewable Energy Fund in the spring of 2019 and the congregation voted to move ahead. COVID-19 limited interactions but the congregation continued to support the project. After several presentations, the only questions left from the community were, “How is the project coming along? and, “When are we going to do it?”
Cost Savings
When I interviewed Joel this week he said, “I pulled my cell phone out in church, which I would normally never do, but there is this nifty app and I wanted to share with the congregation the real-time data. Since June 15 we have accumulated $722 in electricity through our interconnection with PGE and we will draw on accumulated excess credits in the winter months if the balance is more that we need to cover the Church’s electricity bills at the end of the year the extra will be donated through PGE to the Oregon Energy Fund to assist those with low incomes pay their energy bills which is a cause the church would support even if it wasn’t a required element of the program (https://portlandgeneral.com/help/help-topics/bill-payment-assistance-residential).
Project Siting and Tradeoffs
Over the years the church has ended up owning several different tax lots so one of the siting considerations was ensuring that the solar development would not straddle more than one lot in case of a future sale.
A site on the north side of the Smyrna cemetery would have been more visible and desirable for use as an educational installation, but Joel reported that a sewer system, electrical and telephone line crossings and an existing paved parking lot would create possible construction challenges. Therefore, a lot to the south of the cemetery with excellent sun exposure between the oak grove and an existing filbert orchard, with direct access to the church for the interconnection through an existing crawl space, was selected for the project.
In 2002, the congregation planted two oak trees as a memorial to 9/11. But, one would need to be removed to build the solar field at the south location. The congregation decided it was good for the cause and the 100 new oaks are now growing up to replace it next to the solar panels.
Funding Community Project Through Grants
My grandfather had a much-loved, distinctive miniature milk can to collect donations for projects at the Smyrna church and regularly rounded up items for silent auctions. Rural churches serve as the hearts of small communities but they have limited resources for infrastructure upgrades and investments. That’s why grant programs targeting non-profits are such critical funding mechanisms.
Joel said, “We are always looking for things we can do, we replaced the outside church lighting with LEDs to help reduce power consumption about 4 years ago with another grant. This history of applying for programs and completing improvements helped us qualify through the application process since we had already taken care of several other things to improve energy efficiency.” The next step was for the church to generate its own power.
Chet introduced the church to PGE’s Renewable Development Fund (RDF) which funds about 10 projects per year for non-profits looking to build educational, community projects in PGE territory. Joel reported that Dan Janosec, Grants Manager at PGE was very helpful and encouraging. “It is easy to go to the PGE website to find tutorials and apply and an online tool kit is available, as well
https://portlandgeneral.com/fund-toolkit.
The church finally submitted the complete grant application to PGE’s RDF program in August 2020. 7Skyline, LLC (www.7Skyline.com) served as a volunteer senior technical reviewer and Energy Solutions provided all of the technical information for the application.
“If you look at other projects that were accepted we are the smallest project and the smallest grant,” said Joel, “but we also had no change orders and no problems.” Joel also reported that the soil conditions allowed the project to make use of innovative screw technology for the foundations, which were all installed in just a couple of hours. Construction went smoothly over 4 days but had to be scheduled around major tree work as the result of an ice storm that caused damage to the cemetery when fallen tree limbs destroyed a brick pillar and fencing.
Through the RDF program the applicant pays only 10% of the solar project cost. The program was generous with the Smyrna project. Costs for educational needs and a chain-link fence to separate the solar panels from a nearby playground were included. The overall system cost totaled $45,547. The grant covered $32,559, The Energy Trust of Oregon assisted with an additional $6,156 and $6,832 was funded by the Church. The Energy Trust inspection is complete and PGE will also do a final inspection and report.
What’s Next
Several congregation members now track the solar energy production on their phones and a video display inside the church shows the project in real-time, what the system is producing, and what the church is earning weekly and monthly.
A separate group at the Church, which includes two teachers and a superintendent, is now working to fulfill the educational components of the grant program. Joel said, “We are working on an education proposal to all local districts to offer field trips for students covering the solar project, oak grove, and other improvements. One member drew a short comic book with squirrels explaining the Smyrna solar project for the students and the teachers are tying the field trip offering into the science curriculum. Our goal is to start this in January. We are meeting in October to put more of this together and train volunteers, as well.”
Since Smyrna Solar came on line, Guest Pastor Susan Smith has also garnered support for replacing the church’s four gas furnaces with heat pumps to provide air conditioning in response to June’s heatwave in the Portland area. I know that my grandfather would be proud of the congregation’s commitment to completing the recent set of sustainable community projects and that they will inspire the next generation of volunteers to follow Joel’s advice and put in the legwork, too. As Joel says, “Someone has to dog it and keep at it. It would have been easy for it to slip through the cracks and I decided that if we were going to do it we just needed to do it.”
Contributors
Since 2016 Jennifer Rouda has served as a board member for Solar Oregon. She is also the President of 7Skyline, LLC an independent energy consulting firm based in Astoria, Oregon.
Joel Daniels is a retired teacher, a longtime member of the historic Smyrna United Church of Christ (1891), and chair of the church’s Earth Care Committee.
