A church in Reno is now home to the largest solar array on any religious building in the state, and the installation is largely the work of Black Rock Solar and NV Energy, the regional utility.

Black Rock Solar, a non-profit spin-off from the Burning Man project (a Black Rock Desert, Nevada event/temporary community advocating radical self expression and self-reliance), focuses on spurring the adoption of renewable energy by providing low- or no-cost solar to communities in need, according to Black Rock Solar’s Executive Director, Tom Price.

The Seventh Day Adventist Church (Reno) project is actually two installations – a 30-kilowatt array, and a 20-kilowatt array – and is the ninth such project by Black Rock Solar, with similar charitable solar installations at Natchez Elementary School in Wadsworth; three schools in Gerlach; Pershing County General Hospital in Lovelock; the University of Nevada at Reno’s (UNR’s) Joe Crowley Student Union; the new Nevada Discovery Museum in Reno, and an even newer solar project at a Native American health clinic (see end of article for details).

NV Energy’s contribution, through its Solar Generations project, uses rebates to offset the cost of solar. Initiated six years ago, the program has since spurred the installation of 2.7 megawatts of solar energy with more than $10,000,000 in rebates. During the 2009-2010 year, schools and public buildings are eligible for rebates of $4.20 per watt, up to 50,000 watts, to a maximum of $210,000.

The Solar Generations program supports Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, or RPS, of 20 percent of generation from renewable sources by 2015, with at least 5 percent of that from solar energy.

For Seventh Day Adventist and its adjoining school, the long-range program is to produce as much electricity as is used, saving an estimated $340,000 in electricity costs over the 25-year life span of the panels.

The church will use the arrays to teach students and church members about the advantages of solar power, and eventually hopes to install another solar array to power a nearby 100-year old ranch house, the Stone House Resource and Education Center, that is being restored to serve as a community education facility.

Black Rock Solar and NV Energy are also responsible for a new, 30-kilowatt solar installation at the Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic in Nixon, which serves members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation. Black Rock donated labor and materials, and NV Energy’s Solar Generations program provided $138,000 in renewable energy funding.

The Pyramid Lake installation is expected to help reduce the clinic’s annual electric bill by 50 percent, or about $7,200. Over the life span of the installation, savings of $180,000 are anticipated, all of which can be put back into equipment and facilities to provide better medical care to the Native American band of Paiute it serves.