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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

North America's Largest Rooftop Solar Power Plant Now Under Construction in New Jersey

07/11/2011
New Jersey's robust solar market is getting a huge boost now that construction is underway on a 1.1 million-sq.-ft., $42 million solar power plant. When completed this fall, it will be nearly twice as large as any rooftop solar installation in the state, and the largest such solar facility in North America.

Crews are building the project-called Riverside Renewable Energy, LLC-at the Gloucester Marine Terminal in Gloucester City, NJ. Once fully operational, the plant's 27,528 high-efficiency photovoltaic solar panels will generate nine MW of electricity--enough juice to power 1,500 homes.

According U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, the plant should offset over 9,500 tons of carbon dioxide; an offset equal to planting 400,000 trees or taking 1,700 cars off the road.

Riverside is a joint venture between Holt; SunPower Corp, a global solar tech leader; Rabobank, a leading global bank and financier of renewable energy projects; and PSE&G, the energy services firm headquartered in Newark, NJ.

"At nine megawatts, this is a milestone solar installation made possible with SunPower's high-efficiency panels and T5 Solar Roof Tile System," said Tom Leyden, SunPower's managing director. "By hosting this system, Holt Logistics will maximize its savings on electricity costs at the Terminal over the next 25 years or more."

Funding, in part, will come from available federal Investment Tax Credits which award tax incentives to spur development of green energy sources systems in the U.S., as well as from continued support by Solar Renewable Energy Credits created via the New Jersey Renewable Portfolio Standards.

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