Rutgers University to Break Ground Sept. 23 for Largest Solar Energy Project in New Jersey

WHAT:

Rutgers administrators, commissioners from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and members of the Rutgers community will break ground on a seven-acre, $10 million solar energy facility on the Livingston Campus. A solar panel will be on display and officials will describe how the renewable energy system works.

WHO:

Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick and Joseph L. Fiordaliso and Nicholas Asselta, commissioners, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities

WHEN:

11 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 23

WHERE:

6 Berrue Circle, Rutgers’ Livingston Campus, Piscataway. The site is at the intersection of Berrue Circle and Suttons Lane.

BACKGROUND:

Rutgers is embarking on the first major solar energy project of this scale in the state of New Jersey. The 1.4 megawatt facility will generate approximately 10 percent of the electrical demand of the Livingston Campus. The solar “farm” will reduce the university’s carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,200 tons per year – the equivalent of removing 155 automobiles from the road – and save Rutgers more than $200,000 in its first year of operation.

Nearly half the $10 million cost of the project – $4.9 million – will be subsidized by a rebate through the BPU’s Clean Energy Program, with the remainder funded by Rutgers. 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 can be sold to electric suppliers to provide a source of revenue that helps the university offset the costs of installing the solar energy facility.