The Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin (MMBA) has installed a 269-kW rooftop solar array at its 30,000-square-foot facility in Austin, Texas.
The solar array, which comprises 656 solar panels, was installed in partnership with solar company Freedom Solar, the Texas-based nonprofit human milk bank says.
The solar system is expected to provide MMBA with an average monthly savings of $2,900 or roughly 98% of electricity costs. The nonprofit adds that installation will help it save the equivalent of 80 baby bottles worth of milk each day or 2,394 bottles per month.
MMBA received a $268,960 up-front incentive from Austin Energy and will also receive 9.91 cents/kWh of solar energy production credit from the utility.
“Protecting the environment and using renewable energy is in our best interests, because we want nature to give us what we need,” said Kim Updegrove, Executive Director of MMBA. “It makes the most sense to use our resources for families in need and use the sun to provide the energy we need to save babies and serve families.”
“As part of our solar incentive program to reduce financial barriers to rooftop solar installations, we’ve helped nonprofits install a full megawatt of solar, enough to power 130 homes,” said Tim Harvey, Customer Renewable Solutions Manager at Austin Energy. “Austin Energy is excited to continue to work together to build the socially and environmentally sustainable electric system of the future.”
The Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to save babies' lives by providing pasteurized donor human milk, primarily to premature and ill infants. Women who are lactating can donate milk to The Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin regardless of where they live.
In 2022, the milk bank received donations from 1,100 women and pasteurized and dispensed 850,000 ounces of donor human milk.
