Groundswell, in collaboration with the Community Church Atlanta, Stryten EnergyInterUrban Solar, the City of Atlanta, the Wells Fargo FoundationAnd GMcelebrated the start of construction on one of the first resilience hubs in the southeastern community.
The 34.1 kW solar installation at the Community Resilience Hub at Community Church Atlanta’s Vicars Community Center will use 320 kWh of battery storage to provide community members with a location to safely gather in the aftermath of an emergency or heavy weather. so that the community can recover safely and effectively. Outside of emergencies, this community resilience center will support Community Church’s ongoing service to the community. The church provides meals for 400 families every week and serves as a meeting place for local organizations.
Groundswell is working with community partners to build resiliency hubs in centralized, trusted community locations where community members can access reliable power for their essential devices, continue to receive information when emergencies arise, and store temperature-sensitive medications when their neighborhoods dealing with natural disasters and emergencies. Hubs like those at Community Church are an essential precaution against the impacts of climate change that are already being felt across the country and around the world. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Vicars Community Center project uses choice pay to achieve community ownership. The project also applied for and received a Low Income Bonus Tax Credit under Section 48e of the IRA.
As developer of this community resilience center, Groundswell worked with Community Church leaders to meet the neighborhood’s greatest needs while building on the foundation laid by the Breaking Barriers project. Stryten Energy designs, manufactures and installs the battery, enabling the resilience hub to provide three days of backup power for critical applications during power outages.
This community resilience center will be owned by Community Church through the dedicated efforts of church leaders in partnership with Groundswell and financial support from the GM Foundation, a donation of Stryten Energyand the IRA’s direct solar tax credit.
The Wells Fargo Foundation provides ongoing support to advance community ownership of resiliency centers like those at Community Church Atlanta. Wells Fargo has been a key partner in Groundswell’s work in designing and implementing a financial model that leverages the direct incentive benefits of the IRA to drive community ownership. The GM Foundation also provides financial support for this resilient community center. InterUrban Solar leads the engineering, purchasing and construction together with SunCatch Energy.
News item from Groundswell
