To assist the Catholic Charities Network in Jefferson City in their large construction project to transform the Shikles Center from a clearinghouse for donated furniture, appliances, electronics, and other products people still recovering from Mid-Missouri’s May 2019 tornado need into a center providing food, health care, housing counseling and other services. The benefits of this project include:

• MESA Financing: The Catholic Charities Network will take advantage of a 6 year Managed Energy Service Agreement to finance the project, wherein a third party investor will fund the construction and maintenance for the project to take advantage of the tax credit incentives that would come from the project which the Catholic Charities Network is not allowed to accept as a nonprofit. This means the Shikles Center will benefit from the project and the energy savings generated with no upfront costs while the project’s investor gets a fast ROI from the tax credits. After 6 years, the project can be bought by the Catholic Charities Network or acquired by another investor.
• On-site Power Generation: The solar carport installed above the new parking lot will provide clean, renewable on-site power for the Shikles Center, allowing them to be less reliant on the electric grid.
• More Efficient Heating & Cooling: With the installation of a geothermal heat pump and VRV (Variable Refrigerant Volume) combo system, the Shikles Center will have significantly more efficient heating and cooling, lowering the cost of those operations and improving the comfort felt by constituents in the facility.
• Smarter Building Management: With nonprofits, facility management can be a challenge, as, in some cases, there may not be a facility manager in the organization to help manage the facility. This won’t be a concern for the Catholic Charities Network: our team will install a Building Automation System to efficiently manage when power from the solar carport is used as well as when heating and cooling systems should run based on advanced building management algorithms, data-driven insights, and machine learning.
• Large Community Impact: When the project is complete and the updated Shikles Center is ready to serve its constituents, it will immediately help so many people in need in and around the Jefferson City area. The solar carport installation will also help the community in that it will reduce the stress the Shikles Center puts on the electric grid.
• Job Creation: To install the solar carport, geo loop VRV system, and building automation system, the EnergyLink team will be employing construction team members from around the area.