New Hope Baptist Church in Oakland, California, has been around for over 100 years, sharing the gospel within their community, on the mission fields, in prisons, in hospitals, with the sick and with the homeless. With over 200 active congregation members, the church holds weekly Sunday service, along with community services such as a food pantry and food giveaways to people in need. 

The crew at SunWork putting solar panels up on the New Hope roof!

The congregation went solar to slash expensive energy bills and invest savings into boosting community services and renovating the building. Pastor Robert Pearl shared, “We are going solar and updating the church building for the generations to come. We hope they can stand on our shoulders, continuing to worship here in a clean-powered church.” 

With their recently installed 14 kW solar array, the congregation will save over $189,336 over the system lifetime and avoid 760,000 lbs polluting the local air. 

New Hope’s solar project was part of the broader BIPOC Houses of Worship Initiative, which aims to accelerate the deployment of solar energy in communities by assisting BIPOC houses of worship around the country in transitioning to solar. This initiative is a partnership between Green the Church, Interfaith Power & Light, NREL and RE-volv. 

The church plans to have a ribbon cutting ceremony in the coming months!