by Keith Pitcher, St John Fisher & St Thomas More, Burley in Wharfedale
Our parish began the CAFOD LiveSimply award in 2019 trying to follow the Gospel call to live simply, in solidarity with people in poverty, and sustainably with creation. It sounds daunting but forming a parish team was a great way to get things going. We asked parishioners for ideas that were important to them and could be put into action. We had over 300 suggestions, and gained our LiveSimply award in 2022, a great occasion for our parish; a result of making a lot of these suggestions happen.
More recently parishioners suggested installing solar panels on the south facing roof at church. They had installed panels on their houses and found they had worked well with good paybacks. This seemed timely as the parish had already
- replaced old, inefficient gas heaters with electric heaters, thermostats & time controls
- implemented a schedule to replace single glazed windows with double glazing
- changed old lighting with LEDs and planned to replace the lighting in the main part of the church
When getting quotations, the design was based on historic electricity usage but also looked forward to future changes needed to supply low energy heating. The system we chose was for 22 panels, each 500Wp, generating 8,750kWh per annum, saving 1.6 tonnes of CO2, plus an 11.5kWh battery to store generated electricity.
An ethical, environmental and economic report gave a project payback of 6 years, to be financed by our parish. It was supported by our parish, our finance committee and then by the diocesan finance committee.
The installation took only a few days during December 2024. The main electricity meter was later exchanged by the diocese’s energy supplier for free smart meters, enabling the parish to receive income for electricity exported to the local grid through the UK’s Smart Export Guarantee scheme. And removing the meter previously supplying the presbytery means one set of standing charges are no longer being paid.
We monitor the system via an App. We’ve been impressed with its performance. The panels generate electricity not only in direct sunlight but also on cloudy days as well. During 2025 the panels generated 10,550 kWh, outperforming their design, this due to an exceptionally sunny spring & early summer. The panels supply both the church and presbytery. Making some of our own electricity has significantly cut our monthly bills and we earn money from the surplus. And all the saved carbon is great for the environment.
As Bishop Marcus said in his September 2024 Pastoral Letter for the Season of Creation:
“We may lack the power to change the whole world, but we do have the ability … to make changes in our own lives, homes and communities.”
Reducing energy usage and costs are a priority for our diocese.
The Diocesan Laudato Si’ Sustainability Group has produced a leaflet to help parishes, schools and individual homes who would like detailed steps for installing solar panels. The diocese has a partnership with the company used to install solar panels at our church.
All details are available from carla.stockton-jones@dioceseofleeds.org.uk. Charities, including churches, benefit from 0%VAT on PV and batteries until 31st March 2027.
We’ve discussed how the panels work in our parish children’s liturgy. Parents told us that The Environment is part of the school curriculum, they said our project provides a great example of putting this into practice.
Looking back, it’s been a good project. We hope it will encourage others to consider this for their own parishes and homes.
Do contact us if you would like to discuss anything in more detail or visit our parish, our email is office.ssfishermore@dioceseofleeds.org.uk