THE FOLLOWING RELEASE IS FROM DANVILLE’S FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
The oldest church in Danville has a new, modern technology to help power the building. First Presbyterian Church now has solar panels operating on the roof.
About 360 Solar panels were installed on flat part of church roof from the church lounge/library all the way down to the end of the building at the end of the education wing. (Photos of the church building and the solar panels taken from a drone are below)
A green initiative was started at First Presbyterian Church in 2015. The church has replaced all lights with LED bulbs, replaced heat pumps, replaced steam traps and the steam system, added programable thermostats, and used less paper products. The air conditioning was replaced with a more environmentally friendly system. Due to these efforts, First Presbyterian is the only church in the state to win the Illinois Sustainability Award presented by the University of Illinois. The church also has developed a neighborhood garden with many native trees, plants, and flowers.
Talks about solar power were started in 2022 with the church’s Facilities team and Session. A New roof was installed in 2022 in order to have a 15-20 year warranty for the length of the panels. Meetings with the solar group were started in 2023. The panels were installed in April by Straight up Solar Inc. out of Bloomington and St. Louis. Internet connections were made in May. Ameren and Solar group did inspections in June and July. And the first day of the new solar system was August 1.
The solar group provided the church with a link to an online monitoring portal to view the solar power and energy production and information per day, week, and month.
