Caritas Communities Goes Solar

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BRAINTREE, MA – Non-profit housing provider Caritas Communities has partnered with locally-based Sunwealth, a clean energy investment firm, to install solar arrays on ten properties, including five in Boston, two in Everett, and one each in Arlington, Melrose, and Salem.

Together, these installations will produce 5,062,743 kWh of clean energy of their lifetime, create the equivalent of six years of full-time employment for one local solar technician, and generate $203,000 in energy cost savings for Caritas Communities.

In addition to hosting a portfolio of on-site solar arrays, Caritas enrolled five of its properties in Sunwealth’s Low Income Community Shared Solar (LICSS) program. Through Net-Metering Credit Agreements, these properties receive monthly allocations of net-metering credits from local solar arrays which reduce the amount they owe to their energy provider each month. Caritas pays Sunwealth for net-metering credits at a 25% discount. Annual savings from this program is estimated to total $4,500/year across the five properties.

“We know that Climate Change disproportionally affects people in poverty,” said Executive Director Karin Cassel Mitterando. “This partnership reduces our dependence on fossil fuels while lowering our energy costs, which benefits our deeply affordable housing program.”

“I am so impressed with Caritas’s fortitude in pressing forward with this partnership in the midst of incredible challenges caused by the pandemic,” said Jonathan Abe, CEO of Sunwealth. “It demonstrates their understanding of the importance of energy equity and their commitment to improving the lives of low-income people.”

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