St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Islip joins movement to go green with solar panels

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, a nearly 200-year-old parish in Islip, is among the latest faith institutions to go green with the installation of solar panels earlier this summer.  

The 87 panels are projected to generate enough to cover more than 60% of the campus’ electricity needs, saving over $8,000 per year, said church officials, who expect to recoup costs for the project within six or seven years. The panels were installed on a building that houses office space, a thrift shop and a chapel.

“In the last 10 to 20 years, we’ve tried to be more and more aware of environmental and sustainability questions, and to make that part of our stewardship,” said the Rev. Edwin Beckham, rector of St. Mark’s.

St. Mark’s covered the $86,297 installation with help from fundraisers and the church’s endowment, and a 30% federal rebate from the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, Beckham said. The rebate is anticipated to shave nearly $26,000 off the total cost.

The effort is part of an overall push by the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island for its 135 parishes to go green within the next decade, said diocese head Bishop Lawrence Provenzano.

“Anytime we have an opportunity where there's going to be something of a major renovation to one of our buildings, the idea of introducing green energy is exactly where we go,” he said.  

  North Bellmore church installed panels in June

St. Francis Episcopal Church in North Bellmore installed solar panels in June, and The Church of the Epiphany and St. Simon in Brooklyn has signed a letter of intent to move forward with its own project, said Mary Grace Puszka, a spokeswoman for the diocese.

“Part of our ethos here at St. Francis is caring for the creation that has been entrusted to us,” said the Rev. Grace Flint, rector of St. Francis. “Our solar commitment is also part of our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and hopefully allow for more resources for those who come after us.”

The parish has been supportive of the decision, she added. “It’s the way the world is moving, so I think there was general goodwill about it.”

Other Episcopal parishes are in “various stages of commitment, potentially bringing the total number of projects to around six,” Puszka said.

The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island also plans to install solar panels on a portion of its Garden City campus, according to Provenzano.

The parishes have been able to secure discounted rates to install solar panels by working as a group with the Long Island Progressive Coalition, a Massapequa-based grassroots organization.

Part of the nonprofit’s work includes a campaign to coordinate bulk purchasing of solar panels among houses of worship and other nonprofits on Long Island to help lower costs.

“Long Island has the highest rate of residential solar adoption in New York State, but we were seeing that nonprofits and houses of worship in particular were kind of being left behind,” said Ryan Madden, climate and energy campaigns director at the Long Island Progressive Coalition.

Incentives include direct pay for churches

The Inflation Reduction Act offers incentives for customers to install green-energy upgrades such as solar power — including direct pay mechanisms to tax-exempt entities like churches, which previously couldn’t take advantage of solar tax credits, Madden said.

Costs for solar systems might range from $40,000 to $150,000 upfront, according to Madden.

“But it’s really important to note that that doesn’t account for the federal direct pay, which is a 30% benefit off the total cost,” he added.

The Inflation Reduction Act has made a difference for other Long Island churches too — at least, according to Scott Maskin, CEO at Ronkonkoma-based solar provider SUNation, which installed the panels at St. Mark’s.

“It’s a significant benchmark,” Maskin said of the legislation, adding that the company saw around a 30% jump in faith institutions investing in solar power after the bill passed.

Resonant Energy is a Boston-based solar company that has acted as a technical partner for the Long Island Progressive Coalition by helping to answer questions about how to go solar, and the costs and benefits of the decision.

The Inflation Reduction Act has kept steady the volume of interest in solar energy among faith institutions through the financial hardships of the pandemic, said Leonard Schloer, business development manager at Resonant.

"Climate change has been more and more on the minds of some of these institutions,” he said, plus utility prices are "infinitely rising."

“Those we are talking to have been really interested in speaking to solar as sort of an extension of their mission to care for the community,” Schloer said of churches working with his company. Faith institutions have made up a significant portion of its clientele over the years.

That holds true at least for St. Mark's in Islip, which has started to discuss other ways to foster greener habits, said Beckham, who recently suggested forming a committee to examine ways to help the church be more eco-friendly.

“Christians are called to be stewards of the Earth,” he said. “Figuring out what it looks like for us to be stewards has become more and more important for Episcopalians.”

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.