Official Solar

Posted in Uncategorized by admin on December 29, 2008

Official Solar

Newark Solar Energy Project To Save 4,400 Trees

On Tuesday, December 15, City of New Jersey officials, along with Weston Solutions, Inc. executives and Wilson Avenue Realty representatives, got together for a final inspection of a 200-kilowatt rooftop solar system at the city’s engineering department motor vehicle garage.

Located at 233-249 Wilson Avenue, in Newark’s East Ward, the 55,472-square foot building, occupied via a long-term lease from Wilson Ave. Realty, features a $1.3-million system which will provide about 83 percent of the building’s electricity needs when completed in January of 2010.

Comprised of 806 solar photovoltaic panels delivering 240,719 kilowatt-hours per year, the system will prevent about 173 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted by regional utility Public Service Electric & Gas, or PSEG, whose generation mix is about half nuclear, with coal and natural gas making up most of the balance.

This 173 avoided tons of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, is equivalent to removing 33 cars from American roads, or planting 4,433 trees, and represents part of New Jersey’s increasing commitment to clean, renewable solar energy.

The solar array is the result of a cooperative effort between Wilson and Weston Solutions, Inc., with the latter owning and operating the solar panel array and selling power back to the City of Newark at a cost below existing retail rates, so the city will see an immediate economic benefit.

The solar installation also produced job training, via collaboration between the city’s Engineering and Sustainability Office and various community groups like the Urban Environmental Institute and NewarkWorks. Graduates earned solar installation certification from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, which prepared them to participate in the installation and enables them to find other, solar-related jobs in the future.

The solar installation was the last step in a wide-ranging energy efficiency upgrade at the garage, which repairs the city’s fleet of vehicles, including police cars, fire trucks and waste removal trucks. The city’s fleet of 1,100 vehicles includes 463 police cars alone.

In addition to being home to half a dozen solar panel firms like SeaBright Solar, Soltra Energy Solutions, and Solar Energy Systems LLC, Newark is located in the only state considered a serious contender to California, which currently ranks number 1 in solar installations nationally. New Jersey currently produces over 90 megawatts of solar energy, compared with only a single megawatt seven years ago.

Much of this solar growth can be attributed to the state’s Clean Energy Program, which offers an appealing combination of SRECs (solar renewable energy credits, paying about $680 per megawatt-hour), a state rebate, a sales tax exemption, and a net metering policy. In New Jersey, according to recent calculations, a 5-kilowatt system costing $35,000 can end up costing as little as $15,000.

No wonder New Jersey, with solar insolation values half that of California, is going solar by leaps and bounds. Follow the money.
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