Chaberton Energy and Pivot complete combo community solar + nonprofit project

Chaberton Energy, a Maryland-based solar developer, and Pivot Energy, a national renewable energy owner and operator, announced that they are powering up an innovative solar project in Maryland.

The 19-acre site, named Project Catherine, sits on St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church’s property in Cooksville, Howard County, Maryland, and is essentially three projects in one. A portion of the project supplies energy directly to the church, while the rest of the project serves Loyola University Maryland and the surrounding community via a subscription model.

The project involved significant input from the community, St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, and the project subscribers. For instance, by limiting the footprint of the solar arrays to unused portions of the existing site, project designers retained prime athletic fields for the church. The solar land lease payments will also benefit the St. Mary community.

“Pivot Energy shares our passion for the energy transition and works tirelessly to help communities access local, affordable, clean energy,” said Mike Doniger, chief operating officer at Chaberton Energy. “This project showcases our development team’s creativity as it combines three different solar business models in one project — a community solar project, a power purchase agreement with a nonprofit, and the offsetting of on-site electricity usage. We are grateful to St. Mary Church, Howard County officials, Loyola and so many others who collaborated to make this a reality.”

The sites were originally developed by Chaberton and recently acquired by Pivot, adding to its significant portfolio of active project sites in the mid-Atlantic.

Project Catherine will provide a total of 4.3 MWDC, enough to power the equivalent of 750 homes. Community solar subscribers will have access to 3.4 MWDC of capacity via the Maryland Community Solar program. Loyola will have access to 750 kWDC under a renewable energy purchase agreement via the Maryland Aggregate Net Energy Metering program, and the balance will be used to offset the church’s on-site load.

“Project Catherine helps leading institutions within the community gain access to clean, affordable, local energy,” said Brit Gibson, chief operating officer at Pivot Energy. “Our partnership with Chaberton and the willingness of St. Mary Church and Loyola University of Maryland to think outside the box made it possible to build this unique solar project.”

True to both Pivot Energy’s and Chaberton Energy’s values and business strategies, Catherine Community Solar will benefit local communities in ways that go beyond providing access to savings on clean energy.

Pivot donated to the Power52 Foundation, a workforce development organization that helps at-risk individuals from the Baltimore area by providing training, mentoring and job placement assistance for careers in clean energy. Chaberton donated money to Bright Minds Foundation, a community group that supports Howard County public education, and the Community Ecology Institute, a Columbia, Maryland, nonprofit that cultivates communities where people and nature thrive together.

Project Catherine and additional solar projects in the Pivot-Chaberton portfolio will bring clean energy and savings to thousands of households and help make a dent in Maryland’s goal of reaching 50% renewable energy production by 2030.

News item from Chaberton Energy