Company’s donated solar array provides savings for Carson City’s FISH

A $112,000 solar project for Carson City’s Friends In Service Helping will save the charitable organization $162,500 over 25 years, according to estimates.

Black Rock Solar, a Reno-based nonprofit focused on adoption of green energy, said it will donate the $112,000 solar array to save FISH a projected $6,500 annually in electricity costs for at least a quarter-century. Installation should come in the next few weeks.

The NV Energy RenewableGenerations program has provided a rebate to cover much of the cost of the 31-kilowatt project, Black Rock reported, and it will be installed atop the FISH thrift store building at Carson and Long streets in Carson City.

“The savings from this (solar) array will make it possible for us to do more for our people,” said Jim Peckham, FISH executive director. FISH provides meals, last year serving more than 210,000 to the homeless and hungry in the area. It also provides other services for people in need.

“For example,” Peckham said in citing the donation’s meaning, “it would double the amount of food we can serve in our dining room, or cover the cost of the insulin we provide to diabetic patients.”

Black Rock is crowd-funding the final $12,000 for the solar array project through the Las Vegas-based charity Green Our Planet. That prompted Patrick McCully, Black Rock Solar’s executive director, to project that for each dollar donated, his organization is leveraging it ninefold on behalf of FISH.

“For every dollar donated,” he said, “we’re building $9.33 of free solar for FISH.”

FISH serves nearly 20,000 people annually, according to Black Rock and FISH, with the goal “not just a hand out, but a hand up.” FISH arranges counseling services; provides showers, clean clothes and job opportunities; has a medical clinic; and feeds people needing such help.