Sixty-five solar panels went up on the roof of St Richard’s Lockleys in late July — although most of the power they generate will not be used by the parish, but that is precisely the point.
The installation is the first in a pilot partnership between AnglicareSA and the Diocese of Adelaide, under which a parish hosts a solar system at no cost to itself and donates the surplus to AnglicareSA’s community solar program, where low-income households buy green power at below market rates.
Technical partner 369Labs estimates the array will generate enough energy to power 13 residential properties, while also lowering the parish’s own power bills.
“It’s a double impact,” said the Rev’d Ben Falcon, Manager, Mission & Anglican Community Engagement at AnglicareSA. “It’s good for the climate and it has this community social impact as well.”
A small monitoring unit, looking “a bit like an internet modem”, tracks generation and use. Power consumed at the church is credited to the church; everything left overflows to AnglicareSA’s community solar customers.
Church buildings suit the arrangement unusually well: unlike a household running a washing machine through the day, most parishes use little electricity when the sun is strongest, so nearly all the generation is surplus.
St Richard’s brought two further advantages: a flat roof, and no heritage listing to restrict where panels could go. The original plan split 60 panels between church and hall but when the hall proved unworkable, the whole array went onto the church.
Marianne Gillard, the Ministry Support officer of the Diocese, said the project grew out of two conversations converging: AnglicareSA’s emerging community solar work, and the Diocese’s climate action working group, which helps parishes measure their carbon footprint. The national church has committed at General Synod to net zero emissions by 2040.
“We can’t necessarily cut emissions, because our emissions are very low,” Marianne said. “So the natural inclination is to donate that, so that someone else can benefit.” She was warm in her thanks to the parish for agreeing to be, in her words, the guinea pig.
“St Richard’s was right at the top of our list. The perfect roof, the perfect people and the perfect heart.”
Parish priest the Rev’d Sally Sandford-Morgan said the congregation needed little persuading. “They were so happy that our roof, at no cost to us, can now help lots of other people.”
Priest’s warden Jeannie Gill said that response was characteristic. “They’re a very generous bunch. Not just financially, but in heart.”
The parish is a longstanding supporter of AnglicareSA, filling a back pew with food donations every few weeks. It will celebrate the istallation of the panels on Wednesday 14 October (see above).
For Mr Falcon, that relationship is why AnglicareSA opened the program to parishes at all.
“We see ourselves ultimately as part of the same Anglican community,” he said. “They want to do something beyond just being part of our governance — to actually join in the work itself.”
The community solar program began around 2022 and now covers roughly 200 properties, from social housing to small businesses. Last year a dollar-for-dollar match from donors at St Peter’s Cathedral raised around $47,500, enough to fund four household installations outright.
The St Richard’s system is a significant investment by AnglicareSA with no government funding. Grants of this kind commonly exclude religious organisations.
If the trial goes well, the Diocese already has one or two other parishes in mind.
