New Jersey extends Solar 4 All program (will invest $80 million in brownfield, landfill projects)

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has approved an extension to PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program. The approval authorizes PSE&G to invest up to $80 million over the next three years to build an additional 33 MWdc of solar farms on landfills and brownfields in PSE&G’s electric service territory.

With this new approval, Solar 4 All is now a 158 MWdc program that utilizes rooftops, parking lots, utility poles and landfills/ brownfields for universal solar projects.

Solar 4 All details

This is the second extension to Solar 4 All. The BPU originally approved the program in 2009, allowing PSE&G to install 80 MWdc of solar capacity. The first BPU-approved extension was in 2013, allowing PSE&G to build an additional 42 MWdc of solar capacity on landfills, brownfields, and 3 MWdc in solar pilot programs for storm hardening and grid resiliency. Of the 158 MWdc currently approved there are 115 MWdc in service, with an additional 10 MWdc expected to be in service by the end of the year.

PSE&G has invested more than $500 million in the program that benefits PSE&G electric customers by supplying solar power directly to the electric grid in a way that is about 40 percent less expensive than typical residential net-metered solar projects.

By the end of 2016, the Solar 4 All program will have about 53 MWdc of solar capacity built on nine landfill and brownfield sites. These projects fill more than 190 acres of landfill and brownfield space with 175,000 solar panels that can power about 8,500 homes annually. With the latest 33 MWdc approval, Solar 4 All will have 86 megawatts-dc of landfill and brownfield solar in total in service by the end of 2019.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/new-jersey-extends-solar-4-all-program-will-invest-80-million/]