Maryland Church Shines a Light on Solar Energy

The First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Maryland has installed four solar arrays—one ground-mounted and three rooftop—totaling 3.2 megawatts of capacity. These projects, developed with Suntrail Energy and IGS Solar, provide over 80 percent of the church's energy usage and have generated nearly $1 million in savings over three years. The installations include a 2.06 MW ground-mounted farm at the Upper Marlboro campus and rooftop arrays at the Family Life Center, Ministry Center, and Empowerment Center.

• The First Baptist Church of Glenarden's ground-mounted solar farm, operational since 2018, has a capacity of 2.06 megawatts (MW) and generates 2.9 megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, offsetting emissions equivalent to approximately 444 passenger vehicles per year.
• The church financed its initial solar array through a 25-year fixed rate power purchasing agreement with no upfront costs, resulting in nearly $1 million in energy savings over the first three years.
• The church installed three rooftop solar arrays to further reduce fossil fuel dependence: the Family Life Center (245 kW capacity), the Ministry Center (500-kW capacity), and the Empowerment Center (expected to power most of the building's energy usage).
• Combined, the four solar arrays provide 3.2 megawatts of installed energy and generate over 4.3 MWh annually, covering more than 80 percent of the church's energy usage.

APA

Yañez-Barnuevo, M. (2022). Maryland Church Shines a Light on Solar Energy. Environmental and Energy Study Institute. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/maryland-church-shines-a-light-on-solar-energy

Chicago

Yañez-Barnuevo, Miguel. Maryland Church Shines a Light on Solar Energy. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, 2022. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/maryland-church-shines-a-light-on-solar-energy.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Yañez-Barnuevo |first1=Miguel |title=Maryland Church Shines a Light on Solar Energy |publisher=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |date=7 September 2022 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/maryland-church-shines-a-light-on-solar-energy |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{yaezbarnuevo2022maryland, author = {Yañez-Barnuevo, Miguel}, title = {{Maryland Church Shines a Light on Solar Energy}}, institution = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/maryland-church-shines-a-light-on-solar-energy}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }