Jodi Jean Amble (Deputy Director RENEW WI), Erin Trondson (Executive Director of Holy Wisdom Monastery/ HWM), , Mark Hanson (volunteer and sustainable energy consultant), Sister Mary David (HWM Prioress), Neil Heskin (HWM Board Member), Toby Grabs (HWM Direcot of Operations), Josh Stolzenburg (CEO Northwind Solar), Niels Wolter (owner of Madison Solar Consulting), Sam Dunaiski (Executive Director RENEW WI)
Submitted by Toby Grabs, director of operations
Holy Wisdom Monastery’s new 300 kW solar array was selected for inclusion in RENEW Wisconsin’s 2023 Clean Energy Honor Roll. Images of Clean Energy Honor Roll projects were shown at RENEW Wisconsin’s 13th annual Energy Policy Summit. The statewide summit, titled ‘Unleashing the Power of Wisconsin’s Clean Energy Potential,’ took place on February 1, 2024, at the Monona Terrace.
Sister Mary David attended the award ceremony along with Holy Wisdom Monastery executive director, Erin Trondson, board member Neil Heskin, director of operations Toby Grabs, and volunteer and sustainable energy consultant Mark Hanson.
Each year at the summit, RENEW Wisconsin honors individuals, organizations, companies and local governments, who, through their vision and actions, are pulling Wisconsin closer to a 100% clean energy future. Their press release states: “Without these difference makers taking charge and removing the many obstacles that lie on the paths toward a carbon-free energy economy, our goal becomes ever more distant.”
The award announcement states:
Projects selected for this year’s Honor Roll demonstrate leadership, ambition and climate awareness in their design and use of clean energy. In 2023, Holy Wisdom embarked on an ambitious effort to become an all-electric facility using carbon-free sources onsite to the greatest extent possible. The monastery’s journey to a carbon-free future began with a significant expansion to the onsite photovoltaic capacity already in place. Designed by the team of Hoffman Planning and Madison Solar Consulting and installed by Northwind Solar, the new array is built upon single-axis trackers, and its output flows directly into the utility distribution system. When the ground-source heat pump and battery storage system are commissioned later this year, Holy Wisdom Monastery will have effectively achieved carbon neutrality. Wisconsin’s Office of Energy Innovation helped kick off this project with a $575,000 grant awarded in 2021.
To learn more about Holy Wisdom Monastery’s tradition of caring for the earth, or to make a donation to their care for the earth efforts, you can contact Lara Dulin Perez at ldulin@holywisdommonastery.org.
Thank you – your support helps us be ‘difference makers’ for the earth!
Comments 1
Congratulations!