NEW KENSINGTON, PA- Wesley Family Services is excited to announce that they have received a grant award from the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF) to co-fund the installation of a solar panel array for their Pioneer location at 1045 4th Ave in New Kensington.  Wesley Family Services provides a variety of behavioral health services, a drop-in center, and affordable housing to the community out of this location.

Completed in 2020, Wesley Family Services wanted to generate affordable housing for the community, create a new and sustainable set of offices for staff, and be a part of the economic development in New Kensington.  Designed to be solar ready, Pioneer exemplifies Wesley Family Services commitment to energy conservation, as the building is both LEED Gold Certified and meets Passive House standards.  Adding a solar array to Pioneer is the culmination of this project and will provide the building with a clean source of locally produced energy.

“We are thankful to have received the support of WPPSEF to help cover the cost and installation of these new solar panels. We not only believe in providing transformational care to those we treat but to the communities we support as well. This solar panel system will help our New Kensington location realize its initial vision of being energy independent and help the surrounding community,” said Doug Muetzel, CEO of Wesley Family Services.

“We applaud Wesley Family Services for building their Pioneer location to Passive House and LEED construction standards which will produce a more comfortable building and a building that has lower utility bills. Once the energy efficiency goals were met, WPPSEF provided some additional funding to support the installation of solar PV to produce on-site electric production. Wesley Family Services approach of addressing energy efficiency first followed by on-site electric production is the preferred pathway of building tomorrow’s building today”, said Joel Morrison, WPPSEF Fund Administrator.