From Trenton New Jersey; the Garden State comes news that it has just reach a new solar milestone of 200 MW (MegaWatts) installed in more than 6,800 projects. What makes this quite the accomplishment is that just eight years ago there were only six solar installations in the entire state.
NJBPU (New Jersey Board of Public Utilities) President Lee A. Solomon said, “This milestone establishes New Jersey’s position as one of the fastest growing solar energy markets in the country.Our success is due in large part to the subsidies provided by the state which are advancing the state’s efforts to come into balance with its RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) goals, possibly as early as 2012.”
New Jersey is the first government globally to adopt the use of Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC) financing model that provides energy credits and additional long term financing for those who invest in solar. The SREC are then sold or traded, separately from the power, providing solar system owners a source of revenue to help offset the cost of installation. SRECs are increasingly replacing rebates, which fueled solar growth in the early years of the state’s solar program. Now neighbor states Pennsylvania, Delaware, Massachusetts, Ohio and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia are getting with the program.
Now it’s not just California that’s got cleantech green swag, Jersey is all up in the solar house.