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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From the press release:

Together, the four projects will produce enough energy to power about 1,300 homes and eliminate some 6,700 tons of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of removing nearly 1,200 cars from the road for one year.

The projects are part of PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program, which was approved by state regulators in July. The program involves a total of $515 million investment in 80 megawatts of solar, creating green jobs and nearly doubling the size of New Jersey’s installed solar capacity. The state has made significant inroads in the last few years, installing more than 100 MW of solar energy, making it second only to California in terms of the amount of solar capacity installed.

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Here are some of the main points of the Solar Loan II program as laid out in yesterday’s press release:

• Any solar installation is eligible, including residential, commercial, industrial, government, etc., as long as it’s a project of a PSE&G electric customer
• Projects may not exceed 500 kw
• The loan may cover up to half of the gross cost of the solar installation, to be repaid over a span of up to 10 years for residential customers and up to 15 for all others
• Participation in the loan program does not affect eligibility for other solar incentives, such as New Jersey’s solar rebate and the federal tax credit

But here is what may be the coolest part of this program: the loan may be repaid with cash, or with the solar renewable energy certificates or SRECs generated by the system. This means you would be repaying your solar loan with value entirely produced by your solar panels. And the clever use of SRECs doesn’t end there: PSE&G will use the SRECs it receives to help offset the bill for this program, which is being footed currently by a surcharge on its customers’ monthly bill.

PSE&G’s electric customers will pay for the cost of the solar program through the RGGI Recovery Charge (RRC), which is included in the delivery part of their monthly bill. PSE&G will sell the SRECs it receives for loan repayment in an auction, and credit the proceeds from the sale to customers through the RRC, which will offset a portion of the program costs. The average residential customer who uses 722 kilowatthours in a summer month and 6,960 kilowatthours annually will pay about 36 cents more per year than they do now.

New Jersey’s unique package of incentives–a rebate coupled with a strong SREC trading program, on top of the federal tax credit–has made it one of the best states in the nation in which to pursue a solar installation for both homes and businesses. If you’ve been on the edge, you’re a PSE&G customer, and financing is what’s been holding you back, it may be time to take the leap.

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MARS and PSEG Celebrate New 2 MW Solar Panel Array

What’s better than solar power? Chocolate. How do we compensate for this sad reality? By putting a 2 MW solar panel array next to the Mars Chocolate North America headquarters. Today, New Jersey utility PSEG joined Mars officials (including advertising’s favorite walking, talking M&Ms) in Hackettstown for the official grand unveiling of more than 28,000 solar panels.

The 18 acres of solar power provides an impressive amount of electricity for the factory where M&Ms are brought into their delicious, brief existence. According to the press release from PSEG,

The solar garden provides 2 MW of power during peak hours, which is equivalent to approximately 20 percent of the plant’s peak energy consumption. It will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,000 metric tons, equivalent to removing 190 vehicles from the road each year.

The solar garden is owned by PSEG Solar Source, and was installed and engineered by Colorado-based juwi solar Inc. using thin film solar panels provided by First Solar. Together with the solar garden, the Mars facility has undergone a number of energy efficiency renovations and will now be applying for LEED Gold Certification.

Has your candy ever tasted so low carbon? No. We didn’t think so.

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“We need a national energy and transmission policy that maximizes the growth of renewables while minimizing the costs,” said Izzo.  He further called for a national renewable energy portfolio standard, a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and a transmission policy that does not favor one type of renewable project or location over another.

Izzo also came out against the proposal for a national transmission “superhighway”, saying that such an effort would end up just supporting coal plants. He said such a pipeline would make it easier for energy produced in the middle of the country to reach coastal states, currently leaders in renewable energy development (such as New Jersey, as it happens). Solar power plants and other clean energy sources count transmission and distribution as among their most serious challenges. Izzo wants to see a transmission policy that supports renewable energy generation without favoritism as to technology or location.

Izzo’s statement came during today’s Washington, DC Energy Daily’s Transmission Siting Policy Summit. His strong support for a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and carbon cap is in line with PSEG’s own efforts to boost solar energy within New Jersey: the state pioneered a true renewable energy certificate (REC) trading market as a way to incentivize solar adoption, one component of their approach to meeting energy and emission goals mandated by Governor Corzine’s state RPS.

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“Today New Jersey continues to be ahead of the curve on energy preservation, implementation of innovative approaches to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources,” Governor Corzine said. “Our ‘world-class’ status is credited to our commitment to environmentally responsible action and competitive marketplace initiative.

“I also want to commend the BPU, the many representatives of environmental organizations, the solar industry, and the businesses and residents all across New Jersey who have been tireless advocates on behalf of solar development in our state and who share in this achievement,” added Governor Corzine.

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, NJ utility PSE&G recently announced plans to install solar panels atop 200,000 utility poles across the state. This begs the question: once that project is complete, will the new milestone be 204,000? In all seriousness, New Jersey is proving itself a serious solar contender. While it still lags behind California in terms of total grid-tied solar capacity, the state is solidly established in the number two spot, nationwide. As relayed by Solar Industry, Solar Energy Industries Asscociation head Rhone Resch offered glowing remarks for New Jersey’s 4,000th installation:

“By enacting policies like the state’s advanced renewable portfolio standard and strong incentives for solar, New Jersey has become the second largest market for solar in the country,” Rhone Resch, president and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a congratulatory statement.

“In fact, New Jersey has more solar photovoltaic installations than Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada combined, and is second only to California in total solar capacity,” Resch added.

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The program has two segments, each 40 megawatts in size.  The first segment consists of installing a solar unit (small distributed solar system of approximately 200 watts) on 200,000 utility poles in PSE&G’s service territory, which includes the state’s six largest cities and roughly 300 rural and suburban communities.  It will be the largest pole-attached solar installation in the world.  The solar units will be connected directly into PSE&G’s electric distribution system and the power will be sold into the PJM wholesale grid.

The second segment will focus on centralized solar, with PSE&G developing solar gardens and roof-top installations on facilities it owns and also at third-party sites.

“Our program will effectively double the size of New Jersey’s installed solar capacity,” said Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G.  “That is more solar capacity than currently exists in any state other than California.”

How will all this added solar generation capacity be paid for? A small surcharge is to be levied on every PSE&G customer, in effect costing the average customer an added 10 cents per month. That charge is set to increase gradually, reaching 35 cents per month by 2028.

Critics of the project will undoubtedly hone in on the per-mW cost of solar, which is, on balance, costlier than other electricity generation technologies. Reuters notes that, at $515 million, the 80-megawatt PSE&G plan envisions costs of $6.4 million for each megawatt of solar. This compares with “$500,000/mW for natural gas power plants, $2 million/mW for coal plants and $4 million/mW for nuclear power plants.” Supporters, in turn, will maintain that such projects are key to meeting NJ state renewable portfolio standards — and that, because costs are borne across a large number of customers, aggregate gains outweigh marginal cost hikes.

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