PSE&G recently broke ground on a new 1.04-MW solar farm on an unused industrial plot in Hackensack. This kind of solar development advances New Jersey’s clean energy future and enhances our state’s economy without jeopardizing prime farmlands, forests and other precious environmental resources.
In recent months, developers have proposed hundreds of large-scale solar installations involving thousands of acres of ground-mounted arrays in agricultural areas. This is a fool’s bargain. At a time when the demand for locally grown food is at an all-time high, the Garden State should not sacrifice fertile acreage for the production of renewable energy.
We have more than enough rooftops and unusable land to accommodate all our state’s solar energy generation needs for the foreseeable future. With over a half-million acres of impervious surfaces in the state, New Jersey has been called “the Persian Gulf of flat rooftops,” providing ample space to build enough solar generation to meet and surpass our state’s solar energy goal of 4,430MW by 2026.
With the recent enactment of the new Solar Acceleration Law, stabilizing the market for solar renewable energy credits in New Jersey, hopefully we will see many more solar developments on brownfields instead of farmland.
Source: http://blog.nj.com/ledgerletters/2012/08/use_nj_brownfields_for_solar_e.html
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| Gov. Christie speaks in front of solar panels and union workers at a ground-breaking in Hackensack. |
In recent months, developers have proposed hundreds of large-scale solar installations involving thousands of acres of ground-mounted arrays in agricultural areas. This is a fool’s bargain. At a time when the demand for locally grown food is at an all-time high, the Garden State should not sacrifice fertile acreage for the production of renewable energy.
We have more than enough rooftops and unusable land to accommodate all our state’s solar energy generation needs for the foreseeable future. With over a half-million acres of impervious surfaces in the state, New Jersey has been called “the Persian Gulf of flat rooftops,” providing ample space to build enough solar generation to meet and surpass our state’s solar energy goal of 4,430MW by 2026.
With the recent enactment of the new Solar Acceleration Law, stabilizing the market for solar renewable energy credits in New Jersey, hopefully we will see many more solar developments on brownfields instead of farmland.
Source: http://blog.nj.com/ledgerletters/2012/08/use_nj_brownfields_for_solar_e.html
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