June 17, 2008

New Brunswick, NJ, USA: Rutgers Board of Governors Approves Construction of Solar 'Farm'

The Board of Governors of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, today gave the green light for the construction of a solar energy facility that will generate approximately 10 percent of the electrical demand of the Livingston Campus and reduce the university’s carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) emissions by more than 1,350 tons per year.

Nearly half the $10 million cost of the project – $4.9 million – will be subsidized by a rebate through the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ ( BPU ) Clean Energy Program, with the remainder funded by Rutgers. The university expects to recoup its $5.1 million investment within seven years.

“Rutgers is a national leader in the effort to bring environmentally sound practices to higher education,” said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. “Whether it is waste reduction, recycling or energy conservation, we take great pride in our commitment to responsible environmental stewardship, and we believe this solar energy project will serve as a model for other institutions to emulate.”

The BPU has established a core rebate program aimed at public agencies and institutions to help them defer the cost of implementing solar projects. In addition to the rebates, Rutgers will be able to capitalize on the BPU’s Solar Renewable Energy Certificate ( SREC ) program. SRECs are tradable certificates that represent the clean energy benefits of electricity generated from a photovoltaic system. The SRECs can be sold to electric suppliers to provide a source of revenue that helps the university offset the costs of installing the solar “farm.”

It is estimated that at the end of the 15-year incentive program, the university will net a return of $6.6 million over its initial investment.

“This project makes good sense economically and environmentally,” said Antonio Calcado, Rutgers’ vice president for Facilities and Capital Planning. “The solar array will generate more than 1,500 megawatt hours of electricity in the first year, offsetting the need to purchase power from PSE&G or draw on the capacity of the university’s gas and oil-fired cogeneration plant.”

According to Calcado, the solar energy project will save Rutgers more than $200,000 in its first year of operation, rising to more than $300,000 in annual savings by the end of the 15-year program. In addition, the annual 1,350 ton reduction of CO2 emissions from the university is equivalent to saving more than 28 hundred barrels of oil, or 640 tons of coal. Construction of the solar farm is expected to begin this fall and to be in operation in spring 2009. The facility will be located on an open parcel of land at the northeast corner of the Livingston Campus in Piscataway, bordered by Berrue Circle, Road 2 and Suttons Lane.

The ground-mounted array will comprise more than 7,000 solar panels about four-feet high.