Sungevity, a California-based company that bankrolls the option to lease solar panels for an increasing number of Americans, is coming to five northeastern states — in an ice pop truck.

As part of the company’s Rooftop Revolution campaign, Sungevity representatives will pile into a bio-diesel-powerd ice pop truck equipped with solar panels and tour New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Delaware. Destinations along the route include events like music festivals, county fairs, farmers markets and minor league baseball games.

Two other solar lease providers, SunRun and SolarCity, are already active in parts of New England and the Mid-Atlantic.

Patrick Crane, Sungevity’s Chief Marketing Officer, had the following to say about his company’s summer initiative:

[w]ith our ‘Rooftop Revolution’ campaign, we are taking the leadership position in breaking through the last major barrier to adoption – raising awareness around the ease, accessibility and most of all, the affordability of solar energy.

Why ice pops? Well, if you couldn’t tell, the campaign is ripe with symbolism, as explained in the press release:

[The ice pops] symbolize solar energy as the refreshing alternative to fossil fuel.  Quarters on Sungevity-branded seeded paper also will be distributed to symbolize the cost savings homeowners’ typically experience through the company’s $0down solar lease.

As hokey as the campaign may sound, who in their right mind is going to turn down a free ice pop in 100-degree heat?

All joking aside, it’s great news that Sungevity is moving into the northeast. While the region doesn’t get as much annual sunshine as some other parts of the country — like the southwest — its residents tolerate some of the highest electricity rates in the country. It is exactly here, where the price for conventional electricity is the highest, that solar power often makes the most financial sense.

Related: Lowe’s Teams with Sungevity to Offer Solar Lease Option, Starting in California

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The New Jersey-based retailer today announced it will install two photovoltaic (PV) energy systems in an effort to reduce annual electricity costs and green its operations.

At 5.38-megawatts (MW), the first system will be big. Real big. In fact, when complete it’ll be biggest rooftop solar PV installed at a single building. Currently that honor rests with SunPower’s 4.8-MW solar energy system at Jersey Gardens Mall, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Some 37,000 solar panels will comprise the array, which will be installed atop the retailer’s distribution center in Flanders, New Jersey. The system is expected to meet 72 percent of the center’s electricity needs in the first year of operation. That’s roughly enough electricity to power 570 typical American homes each year.

Like most commercial solar projects, Toys R Us will be taking the solar power plunge via a power purchase agreement (PPA). In partnership with Constellation Energy — an energy services company that will own and operate the system — the toy retailer will see the project installed at no upfront cost.

Toys R Us will also install a smaller solar energy system atop its store in Secaucus, NJ. Together, the two systems are expected to reduce annual energy costs by $366,000 each year for a cumulative savings of $7 million over 20 years, the company said.

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The finalists for the competition were recently announced. Among them is Team New Jersey, a collaboration of faculty members and students from Rutgers University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. It is the first trip to the finals for Team New Jersey and yesterday at Civic Square Building in New Brunswick, New Jersey, State Senator Robert Menendez recognized Team New Jersey and its project, “eNJoy: A Generation House.” The team will next travel to Washington D.C. for the finals.

The home is concrete, making it durable. It’s been described as a “passive solar house,” meaning the sun’s heat enters the home in its natural state of solar radiation by way of the roof and is used for both heating and light. This means there’s no need for fans or pumps to maintain a comfortable temperature. Additionally, Team New Jersey built the roof in the shape of an inverted hip for optimal solar exposure and rainwater collection.

The 20 finalists are chosen after schools submit proposals to be reviewed by renewable energy experts from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, American Institute of Architects, National Association of Home Builders, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers. After the competition, the homes are on display for the public free of charge and are usually used as energy research labs.

Here is a list of Solar Decathlon Accomplishments since the 2002 inaugural competition:

• Involved 92 collegiate teams, which pursued multidisciplinary course curricula to study the requirements for designing and building energy-efficient, solar-powered houses
• Established a worldwide reputation as a successful educational program and workforce development opportunity for thousands of students
• Affected the lives of 15,000 collegiate participants
• Expanded its outreach to K–12 students by inviting schools in the Washington, D.C., area to visit on class tours.

Check out images of the 2009 Solar Decathalon.

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We’ve got a fairly no-nonsense explanation of how SRECs work here. And see the bottom of this post** for a full description from the New Jersey Clean Energy Program. But, for now, this is essentially what you need to know:

• Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels generate electricity. (Some of you may be saying “duh,” and that’s OK.)
• One SREC commonly refers to 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) — or 1 megwatt hour (MWh) — of electricity.
• So, every time a solar panel system generates 1 MWh of electricity, its owner is entitled to sell one SREC.

Two questions follow, naturally:

(1) How much can you sell an SREC for?

AND

(2) What does this price mean for the typical owner of a residential solar energy system?

Lucky for us, New Jersey keeps up-to-date data on SREC trades across the state, which means we can get a glimpse into how the price of these credits varies over time:

Data from the New Jersey Clean Energy Program

As you can see, SREC prices in New Jersey started out 2010 at around $540 and climbed steadily throughout the the first half of the year. The highest monthly average price (weighted) was recorded in November, when your average SREC fetched $615. This means New Jersey homeowners who sold their credits in that month could have received $615 per SREC — not bad, particularly when you consider the following:

• A 5-kilowatt (kW) residential solar panel system in New Jersey would generate enough electricity over the course of a year to make five SRECs. At the average price through November 2010, a system of this size would yield around $2,900 in annual SREC payments to the system owner.
• A 7-kW system would generate about eight SRECs in its first year of operation — and, in 2010, would have yielded about $4,000 in SREC payments.

Ask anyone who has installed solar power in New Jersey over the past year or so, and you’re sure to get positive reviews on the state’s efforts to promote renewable energy.

The bad news? It’s not possible to trade solar renewable energy credits in all states (although, as noted above, the number is growing). New Jersey has the most developed SREC market — and the one that with the highest SREC prices — though Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland and a few others are beginning to catch up. For instance, see Solar Home & Business Journal’s recent article on how tradable renewable energy credits (TRECs) may eventually become a part of California solar energy market.

**Here’s the New Jersey Clean Energy explanation of SRECs:

Each time a system generates 1,000 kWh of electricity an SREC is earned and placed in the customer’s electronic account. SRECs can then be sold on the SREC tracking system, providing revenue for the first 15 years of the system’s life.

Electricity suppliers, the primary purchasers of SRECs, are required to pay a Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP) if they do not meet the requirements of New Jersey’s Solar Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). One way they can meet their RPS requirements is by purchasing SRECs. As SRECs are traded in a competitive market, the price may vary significantly. The actual price of an SREC during a trading period can and will fluctuate depending on supply and demand.

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KDC Solar is a Bedminster, N.J.-based builder, owner and operator of commercial solar energy systems. As such, KDC will own, install and maintain the  20,400-panel system and sell the energy back to the media group. Since the group is hosting the system, KDC will likely sell the group the solar energy at a reduced rate.

In a statement given to the PRNewswire, North Jersey Media Group President Stephen Borg called the solar energy system, “the next big step,” for a facility that has taken several other measures over the years in an effort to become more environmentally conscious. The group uses soy-based inks, prints its news on paper with the highest possible recycle content and uses a paper supplier with a zero-deforestation record, meaning no trees are chopped down in order for their newspaper to be published. Taking the next step with solar was only logical for Borg, who said every effort was made to make the system as large as possible:

“We used all the space available to install this solar facility including erecting car ports with panels on top.  The end result is almost fifty percent of our electricity needs will be met through the sun.”

Construction is expected to start early this year and be completed by late 2011. When it is completed, the system will churn out about 4.2 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean, solar energy each year — enough solar energy to power 600 average American homes during that same span. It will also be one of the single largest solar energy systems in all of New Jersey — quite the accomplishment when considering that New Jersey stands second among all states in terms of total installed solar energy capacity. Only California has more installed solar energy potential than the Garden State.

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Recently, IREC issued its “top 10 in ’10″ list, highlighting those states that, for better or worse, made headlines for enacting or altering renewable energy policies. Here are the states that made IREC’s “nice” list:

• California, for raising the cap on net metering under Assembly Bill 510
• Colorado, for boosting its renewable energy standard for investor-owned utilities to 30 percent from 20 percent, by 2020.
• Colorado, for clearing the way for the development of community-based solar installations — or so-called “solar gardens.”
• Hawaii, for making its feed-in tariff program a reality
• Massachusetts, for adding a solar “carveout” to its renewable energy standard. As a result, the state now has a target of nearly 400 megawatts (MW) of solar generating capacity.
• New Jersey, for becoming the first U.S. state to establish a mandatory target for offshore wind in its renewable energy standard policy. The target currently stands at 1,100 MW of offshore wind capacity.
• West Virginia, surprisingly, made the cut for its efforts to boost net metering caps for commercial and industrial customers, to 500 kilowatts (kW) and 2 MW, respectively.

And here are the state’s that made IREC’s “naughty” list:

• Oregon, for cutting its generous Business Energy Tax Credit program.
• Florida, for letting a number of its solar power and renewable energy incentive programs expire.
• Ohio, for suspending funding for solar projects under its Advanced Energy Fund, due to unprecedented demand.

To read more, follow the link above.

As for the completeness of the list, I might have added California’s recently OK’d reverse auction mechanism (RAM) and Oregon’s pilot feed-in tariff, which went live this year. Any other suggestions/additions?

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But it wasn’t until January 2010 — when Public Service Electric & Gas Company (PSE&G) announced four sites across New Jersey where it intended construct solar farms — that the program really got off the ground. The utility has set aside 27 PSE&G-owned acres to host the first three projects: the Silver Lake Solar Farm in Edison Township; the Yardville Solar Farm in Hamilton Township; and the Trenton Solar Farm in Trenton. Uniquely, the Trenton and Edison farms will stand on former contaminated brownfields.

Now, the utility is beginning to build a third brownfield solar power project — the Linden Solar Farm. On Tuesday, PSE&G Vice President of Renewable and Energy Services Al Matos spoke about the brownfield transformations during his visit to the Linden site:

“With our solar arrays here in Linden, as well as those in Edison and Trenton, we are helping to turn brownfields green – and give these long-dormant sites a new purpose. By the end of this year, these three solar farms will be providing enough electricity to power about 1,000 average-sized homes, while creating jobs and helping New Jersey to become a major player in the renewable energy sector.”

The 10-acre, 11,484 solar photovoltaic (PV) panel Linden Farm is expected to produce enough energy to power 525 average-sized homes in a state that is no stranger to flipping brownfields into clean energy producers. In September of this year, Clean Harbors Environmental Services installed a 1.5-MW solar energy system on a 90-acre former brownfield in Gloucester, New Jersey. That farm is currently using over 6,000 solar PV panels and should be able to produce enough power for 1,1000 average American homes every year.

There are over 15 other sites that make up the Solar 4 All program not including the four main solar plants. They include 40 MW of pole-attached solar capacity scattered about PSE&G’s service area and installations at five New Jersey public schools. The utility company estimates that the program will create roughly 150 new clean energy jobs throughout New Jersey.

As far as land use is concerned, converting brownfields into solar power plants may be one of the best policies out there.

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Over 50 years ago, a group of Bell Labs scientists released the first solar panels in order to provide phone service for rural farmers who lived off the grid. The reason? It was good business.

At the time (1954) Bell Labs was owned by AT&T. The company was the only phone service provider in the area and needed to find a way to satisfy its rural customers. When the electric grid expanded to rural areas, the panels were no longer needed.

Today Bell Labs is owned by Alcatel-Lucent, a voice, data and video communication service provider. The calendar has changed many times over, and so has the various applications for photovoltaic (PV) solar panels — from enabling AT&T expand its service coverage to helping property owners cut their electric bills and produce clean energy.

Now solar PV panels are returning home, as Alcatel-Lucent announced it would soon install a 1.2-megawatt (MW) ground-mounted PV solar energy system at Bell Lab’s New Jersey campus. The solar energy system will be capable of powering the equivalent of about 200 homes annually — and it falls in line with Alcatel-Lucent’s plan to cut its annual greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2020.

“Alcatel-Lucent has made a serious commitment to environmental sustainability, and this is one step we are taking to honor that commitment. We are working on ways to help our customers operate their own networks with more sustainable technology, which is the focus of a great deal of research at Bell Labs.”

Solar panels made by California-based SunPower Corporation will be used in the installation. Bell Labs’ system is expected to be completed by next spring. For the next fifteen years after that, Bell will save an estimated total of $2.5 billion in energy costs.

Thanks to a contract with ConEdison Development, Bell Labs will not have to spend a single penny upfront for installation costs. As the developer of the project, ConEdison is leasing the six-acre plot where the system will be installed, and then selling the energy back to Bell Labs at a fixed rate. ConEdison will also own the Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SREC) associated with the system’s output.

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That’s thanks to a three-phase solar power project that, according to NewJersey.com, will eliminate 15 million pounds in annual carbon emissions and save taxpayers over $1 million in annual energy costs over the next 15 years. It will also help generate revenue via Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs).

When all three phases are completed, Somerset County could have the highest solar installed generating capacity of any U.S. county. The solar power project will begin with a $40 million, 7.6-megawatt (MW) solar energy system that will be installed across 31 separate Somerset County sites, including government-owned rooftops, parking lots, school district buildings and the Somerset County Courthouse, among others. The system will be the largest of its kind in New Jersey — a state second only to California in installed solar energy capacity. According to Somerset County Freeholder Jack Ciattarelli, the size of the system could double in the next few years.

The Somerset County Improvement Authority contracted Vanguard Energy Partners to build and install the newest system. Under a 15-year power purchasing agreement (PPA), the county will purchase electricity at a fixed rate. New Jersey-based Noveda Technologies will contribute a web-based monitoring system to track the performance of the system in real-time.

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