MANASQUAN, NJ-Recent reports that New Jersey will shift its focus from subsidizing residential solar projects to commercial developments and gas power plants actually is a positive, say solar energy experts, who applaud diversifying the state’s energy sources.
Published reports say that the state will issue a revised 10-year energy master plan in the next month and also turn the Societal Benefits Charge, a fee on utility bills that goes to solar grants and rebates, into a loan program. But that shouldn’t be a problem for the solar energy business.
“It’s important to make sure the state sticks to diversity,” says Jamie Hahn, co-founder and managing director of locally based Solis Partners, a developer and integrator of commercial solar power systems. Solar is just 2.12% of the total energy needed in New Jersey, adds John Drexinger, a principal of Pro-Tech Energy Solutions in Branchburg, NJ. Yet the state is projected to have a 3,000-megawatt energy shortfall by the end of 2012. Without this diversification, the state faces rolling brownouts, even if demand grows just 2% to 2.5% annually, Hahn notes.
Adding to the need for diversity is the closure of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant due to the regulations of the Clean Water Act of 2007. “Oyster Creek should have been back in service for another 20 years,” Hahn says. But fulfilling the EPA’s requirements for new cooling towers would have cost $800 million. Gas power plants are also expected to be emphasized in the new plan. “I’d rather be importing natural gas from Pennsylvania than importing foreign oil,” Drexinger says. Wind is another part of the strategy, he adds.
The change in strategy does not mean that solar development stops. New Jersey Solar Renewable Energy Certificate program, which issues tradeable certificates to individuals and businesses whenever their solar systems generate 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, is widely credited with making the state a leader in solar power adoption. “The majority of other states have a rebate program,” Hahn says. “But they tend to bankrupt that fund, which means that the rebate system is not a very sustainable program.”
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