Minnesota winters are long, brutal and gray. Minneapolis resident Keith Dent has endured 38 of them. But over the last several years, he’s experienced what he calls a “reintroduction to the sun.”<\/p>\n
In 2017, Dent helped install, and later subscribed to a massive community solar garden mounted atop Shiloh Temple \u2014 a majority black church in north Minneapolis. Today, the 630-panel array provides Shiloh itself, the nearby Masjid An-Nur Mosque and 29 local households with green energy.<\/p>\n
The Shiloh project is among hundreds of community solar gardens<\/a> cropping up nationwide working to solve an obstacle many face when trying to go green: the cost of installing rooftop panels, which for a typical household, runs north of $10,000. The project is also among a growing cluster of initiatives affiliated with faith-based institutions seeking to advance their missions of justice by bringing renewable energy to low income communities.<\/p>\n Dent says his utility bills have dropped noticeably since he first subscribed; “That extra $30 or $40 a month? That’s groceries, that’s gas, that’s ballet shoes,” he says.<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n A massive community solar garden mounted atop a majority black church in north Minneapolis provides the church, a nearby mosque and 29 local households with green energy.<\/p>\n And subscribers aren’t just customers of the array \u2014 they’re part-owners. https:\/\/t.co\/zLEreDoVcs<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NPR (@NPR) December 16, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n