Three years ago, James Gaymon attended a clean energy session at the National Conference of Black Churches, an annual event that brings together representatives from the six largest African American denominations.
That day marked a turning point for Gaymon, who is the director of operations for social justice for the Sixth District African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Georgia. The Sixth District has a long history of serving the needs of its local communities, but Gaymon knew it could do more.
After some additional research, he sold the district’s leadership on the idea of exploring how clean energy could be used to help the communities surrounding the AME’s 482 churches in Georgia.
The results of that exploration were revealed on Tuesday, Earth Day, when the Sixth District announced its statewide microgrid initiative.
"This initiative is a testament to our dedication to caring for God's creation and serving our communities," Bishop Michael Leon Mitchell, presiding prelate of the AME Church Sixth District, said in a statement. "Microgrids provide an opportunity to solve so many problems all at once, including strengthening our communities to better face adversity, saving money on utility bills, and reducing pollution.”
5 pilot projects on tap
The Sixth Episcopal District, which adminsters all AME churches in Georgia, has completed 13 feasibility studies and will begin construction on the first five systems in the next few weeks. The systems, at Fortson, Lithonia and three Atlanta churches, should be complete by the end of 2026.
Each system will include solar panels, bidirectional EV charging stations and battery energy storage systems.
While the size of the systems will vary by location, they are expected to generate an average of 70 MWh of solar energy each year, offsetting more than 93% of a church’s annual energy use.
The microgrids will allow the churches to serve as resiliency hubs during emergencies—a safe place where the surrounding community can find shelter, charge phones and medical equipment and store refrigerated mediations.
“By embracing clean energy technologies, we're reducing our environmental impact and bringing cutting-edge solutions to African American communities through the church," Mitchell said.
The long road to clean energy kickoff
Gaymon’s clean energy crusade was met with enthusiasm across the Sixth District, he said. From pastors to church leadership and the 98,000 congregants in Georgia, he found broad support for the idea.
“They were excited,” Gaymon said, but with no roadmap available, they had to figure out how to do things on their own.
The first step was finding good partners that could help the church navigate the complex, and highly technical aspects of clean energy integration.
Early collaborators included RMI (formerly Rocky Mountain Institute), an independent nonprofit focused on transforming the global energy system, and Georgia BRIGHT Solar For All, a federally funded program designed to bring the benefits of solar energy to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
They also worked with an organization to conduct four feasibility studies at churches in Savannah, Columbus, Atlanta, and Lithonia.
“I got my hands on [a completed feasibility study] and it answered a lot of questions for that specific church,” Gaymon said. System size and location, the condition of the roof, current electricity supply, even whether EV chargers would be beneficial were included in the report.
“This was the key,” Gaymon said. “I knew that if I could get feasibility studies done, that would answer 80%, 85% of the questions the churches would have, and they really need those answers to decide whether they want to move forward” with integrating clean energy.
The first four feasibility studies took nearly 48 weeks, well beyond the promised eight to 12 week timeline, so the Sixth District looked for another partner. They found Georgia Interfaith Power and Light (GIPL), a faith-based nonprofit that helps churches and faith communities implement practical climate solutions.
“We created 11 feasibility studies [with GIPL] in about three months, but within those three months, we also developed a process,” Gaymon said.
He knew that creating a scalable, repeatable process that allowed them to move quickly was critical to advancing and expanding the program.
“We had 70-something [AME] churches that were interested, and I had two other denominations, the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and the AME Zion Church, that were also interested in participating,” Gaymon said.
And the process they developed works. Gaymon said they recently completed five feasibility studies in just 21 days.
The funding question
Funding the microgrids is another challenge the Sixth District is addressing. The systems have an eight-year payback period, but many of the churches won’t be able to self-fund the projects.
Bishop Mitchell has committed to raising the money needed to conduct feasibility studies across the District, ensuring no interested church is excluded because they can’t afford this critical initial step.
Paying for the actual microgrids will likely require multiple strategies.
Some churches may investigate energy-as-a-service contracts, especially if they don’t have a staff member or volunteer to manage the system.
For those looking to own the microgrid, Gaymon said they plan to take advantage of available tax credits, though he acknowledged that with the current administration, those may not be available long-term. “My experts tell me that they feel that the tax credits will be there if you have a project that starts in 2025, but 2026 we'll have to figure that out when it gets here.”
The AME Church Sixth District is also due to receive project funds from the Capital Good Fund, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that’s part of the Georgia BRIGHT Solar for All program. Additionally, they plan to leverage grant funds or loans from GIPL.
“Churches are critical partners in the clean energy transition,” said Alicia Brown, director of the Georgia Solar for All program. “When the community has a need or a disaster strikes, they are often the first organizations to step up and offer help. We’re proud to partner with the AME Church on this bold initiative to build resilience hubs, train the next generation of solar workers, and deliver meaningful savings to churches and the households they serve.”
Biblical basis for addressing climate change
The AME Church is an historically black, Christian denomination that traces its roots back to Philadelphia in the late 1700s. Today, the Church has 20 districts in 39 countries. Its mission is to seek out and save the lost and serve the needy.
In its 2016 annual meeting, the denomination passed a Climate Change Resolution, a commitment to support policies that create healthy communities and a clean energy future. Filled with Biblical basis for addressing climate change, the resolution encourages churches to take practical steps toward sustainability, such as planting trees, creating community gardens, purchasing climate-friendly appliances, recycling, composting and more.
While not specifically mentioned in the resolution, clean energy hubs are a natural fit for the AME Church, Gaymon said.
“Our [climate] resolution was just the beginning,” Bishop Reginald Jackson, chair of the AME’s Social Action Commission, said in a statement. The microgrids demonstrate “our continued commitment to putting our Faith into action. By creating these microgrids, we're reducing our carbon footprint and increasing resilience and energy independence in our communities.”
Pastor Thurmond Tillman of the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, one of the pilot churches for the initiative, added, “We recognize that caring for our environment is an extension of our spiritual duty. This clean energy program empowers us to be better stewards of creation and enhances our ability to serve those in need within our community.”
Faith communities provide shelter, power and hope during storms
The AME Church isn’t the only religious organization using microgrids to create resilience hubs. Together Louisiana, a grassroot organization of some 250 religious and civic groups is building what it calls Community Lighthouses to aid vulnerable communities in and around New Orleans with flood recovery.
A community lighthouse is a community-scale solar and battery storage microgrid sited at a church or community center. During extended power outages, the lighthouses serve as resilience hubs, offering immediate aid to the community by providing heating or cooling stations, charging stations, food and medical aid distribution and other critical services.
Together Louisiana has 10 microgrids up and running and aims to have 85 microgrids at houses of worship and community institutions across New Orleans.
The largest to date is located at New Wine Christian Fellowship in La Place, about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans.
Hurricane Helene proves the point
Louisiana’s community lighthouses met all expectations when Hurricane Helene roared ashore last fall, according to reports.
Hurricane Helene exacted a heavy toll when it moved into Georgia, causing more than $5 billion in agricultural and timber losses. With wind speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour, Georgia Power, the largest electricity company in the state, said it was the most destructive storm in the company’s history.
More than 1.5 million Georgians lost power, with some AME congregants without electricity for more than 3 weeks.
For Gaymon, the hurricane further proved the need for microgrid-powered resiliency hubs.
“What kind of difference could we have made if church lights were on and people could have charged their cell phones, their tablets,” he said. “If folks had medicine that need to be refrigerated, it could be refrigerated at church. They could prepare hot food for the community, and it wouldn’t have to be trucked in. But we’re going to get there.”
Planning for the future
With solid processes in place, the Sixth District hopes to roll the program out to all its 482 churches in Georgia. If that happens, the District will have a potential annual production capacity of approximately 35 GWh.
A total of 70 feasibility studies should be complete by the end of the year, Gaymon said.
He also hopes that the program can be expanded to include other Georgia churches outside of the AME denomination.
“The AME Church's microgrid program is a shining example of faith-based climate leadership,” said Codi Norred, executive director of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light. “By combining practical solutions with community engagement, they're creating a model to inspire and guide other faith communities’ sustainability efforts.”
Bishop Mitchell issued a call to action during the Earth Day kickoff event, encouraging other faith communities to invest in clean energy. “This planet doesn't need a few people doing sustainability perfectly,” he said, “but rather it needs all of us doing what we can however we can.”
