Archdiocese of New York Launches Renewable Energy Pilot Program

Today, the Energy Department of the Archdiocese of New York along with
five parishes joined Con
Edison Solutions, one of America's leading energy services
companies, and students from Blessed Sacrament School to launch a
renewable energy pilot program. As part of the initiative, five
parishes, including Blessed Sacrament, St. Clare, and St. Patrick on
Staten Island and St. Ann and St. Anthony in Yonkers have installed
rooftop solar arrays which will collectively generate approximately
700,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity through 1,717 solar panels. Photos
from today’s event can be found here.

“Preventing further environmental degradation has become a top priority
for the Catholic Church under Pope Francis. As such, the Archdiocese of
New York is very pleased to partner with Con Edison Solutions to launch
a solar pilot program that will allow five of our parishes to benefit
from clean energy,” said Bishop John O’Hara, Auxiliary Bishop of the
Archdiocese of New York. “This initiative epitomizes the Pontiff’s call
for sustainable development and thus serves as a great model for our
parishioners and our students.”

The Archdiocese’s initiative is in accordance with the appeals made by
Pope Francis in 2015 in his second encyclical, On Care for Our Common
Home (Laudato Si'). In the encyclical, the pontiff called
upon people all over the world to take unified action to fight global
warming, practice responsible development, and protect the planet.
Through these five solar projects, the Archdiocese of New York is doing
its part to adopt environmentally-friendly programs while meeting its
obligation to help its parishes run as economically as possible by
significantly lowering energy costs.

On average, each solar project will provide approximately 50 percent of
a parish's annual energy needs. Each parish has signed a 20-year power
purchase agreement (PPA) with Con Edison Solutions. Under the agreement,
Con Edison Solutions will install, own, operate, and maintain the solar
projects allowing the parishes to reduce energy costs by approximately
25 percent on average over the next two decades.

“Blessed Sacrament is thrilled to become a host for clean, renewable
energy by taking part in the Archdiocese’s solar program,” said
Monsignor Peter Finn, Pastor of Blessed Sacrament. “In addition to
supporting sustainable energy while cutting energy costs and creating a
physical demonstration of our commitment to preserving the environment
for future generations, we will leverage the program as an educational
aid by teaching our students about the latest clean energy technologies.”

“Con Edison Solutions is proud to partner with the Archdiocese of New
York on this groundbreaking solar pilot program,” said Mark Noyes,
President and CEO of Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses which includes
Con Edison Solutions. “We applaud the Archdiocese and its participating
parishes for championing solar power and its resulting environmental and
cost-saving benefits. Working together with the Archdiocese and the
schools, we have successfully installed five rooftop solar arrays that
help bring us closer to a clean energy future.”

All five solar arrays are behind-the-meter, installed to serve the
electrical needs at the customer’s building. The amount of electricity
to be generated at each site will vary according to the system size.
System capacity is detailed below:

• Blessed Sacrament Parish – 153kW-DC with 472 PV modules
• St. Ann’s Parish – 56 kW-DC with 173 PV modules
• St. Anthony’s Parish – 78kW-DC with 240 PV modules
• St. Clare’s Parish – 134kW-DC with 412PV modules
• St. Patrick’s Parish – 136 kW-DC with 420 PV modules

The Archdiocese of New York is also working with Con Edison Solutions on
potential community solar projects at other parishes, schools, and other
institutions in the archdiocese.

The Archdiocese of New York selected Con Edison Solutions through a
competitive procurement process that included more than 10 solar
developers. The two organizations have been working collaboratively
since January 2017 to finalize the elements of the pilot program.

This solar energy initiative is part of a much larger energy program
being led by the Energy Department of the Archdiocese of New York which
includes several energy conservation efforts like energy audits, LED
lighting upgrades, upgrades to higher efficiency heating and cooling
options, tightening the building envelope and more efficient energy
procurement.

About the Archdiocese of New York

The Archdiocese of New York serves the religious, spiritual, and
pastoral, needs of Catholics throughout Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten
Island, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, and
Dutchess Counties. It comprises 288 parishes, 212 schools, and more than
90 Catholic Charities agencies, serving people of all faiths and
religious backgrounds.

About Con Edison Solutions

Con Edison Solutions is an energy services company that provides
renewable energy, resiliency, and sustainability services including
battery storage, cost-effective energy efficiency solutions, demand
management, and energy performance contracting to industrial,
commercial, governmental, and residential customers. Con Edison
Solutions offers programs and services designed to help customers
achieve their individual energy objectives and is accredited as an
Energy Services Provider (ESP) by the National Association of Energy
Service Companies (NAESCO).

Con Edison Solutions is a subsidiary of Con Edison Clean Energy
Businesses, Inc., a part of the Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE: ED)
family of companies. More information can be obtained by calling
1-888-210-8899 or visiting the ConEdison Solutions website at www.conedsolutions.com.
You can also visit the Consolidated Edison, Inc. website at http://investor.conedison.com
for information on all of the Consolidated Edison companies.

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