MANSFIELD — As school districts and municipalities throughout the area install solar panels on buildings, another place becoming a beacon for solar development is a 55-plus senior housing community.

   The Four Seasons has more than a dozen residents with solar panels on their homes, and Rumson-based solar array installer GeoGenix is hoping to more than double that number by offering community discounts from now through March 15.

   ”What most people have no clue about is that New Jersey is the second-largest installed base in the country, only behind California, in terms of solar installations,” said Pete Ramsey, director of business development for GeoGenix. “The reason is because New Jersey has very aggressive incentive program.”

   By combining the state incentives — from the New Jersey Clean Energy Program under the state Board of Public Utilities — with federal tax incentives and a loan program from PSE&G, which serves Mansfield, Mr. Ramsey said residents can get solar arrays for considerably less than the sticker price, which runs in the neighborhood of $75,000.

   Solar Renewable Energy Certificates earned from the power the panels generate can be allocated to help offset debts incurred by the installation of the panels and later for profit. SRECs are issued each time a solar electric system generates 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, and they can be sold or traded separately from the power. Mr. Ramsey said they’re selling for about $650 each.

   Residences can handle systems of up to 10 kwh, and Mr. Ramsey said people who participate in the PSE&G loan program can break even on the investment in just two years. That leaves quite a while to benefit from the panels, which have 30-year lifespans.

   Mr. Ramsey praised PSE&G and its loan program, saying, “PSE&G in fact is very, very progressive in terms of their renewable strategy.” He said GeoGenix even installed panels at a PSE&G nuclear power plant in Salem.

   Emily Meyers was the first Four Seasons resident to install panels in her home. Her desire to do so led to a six-month struggle against the homeowners association, she said, but with the help of GeoGenix, she got her array four years ago.

   ”It had to go through six months of trying to convince the homeowners association it was the right thing to do, and then they finally saw it my way and allowed me to have it, and now we have this huge flurry,” she said. “You would think this technology would be something the younger generation would be looking into instead of the older generation.”

   The panels are not only money savers, but a source of clean energy as well. Mr. Ramsey said the benefits of a 10-kwh array like Ms. Meyers’ are equivalent to planting 3 acres of trees and eliminating the emission of 20,630 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

   Ms. Meyers was scheduled to host an open house for GeoGenix to talk to other Four Seasons residents about solar panels yesterday, Wednesday, after the Register-News’ deadline. She had 19 homeowners signed up Tuesday afternoon, she said. GeoGenix now is offering a discount for new contracts, which increase as more homeowners in a community sign up.

   Ms. Meyers said most months, she and her husband earn credit on their power bill simply from the power the panels generate, and on the months they use more power than the array produces, the credit pays for it.

   ”It was so financially beneficial to us that to us it’s a no-brainer,” she said.

   Judy DiGianni is another homeowner in the Four Seasons development with a system. Her panels were installed in mid-2006, and she said she expects to break even on the price, which she paid in full, in the next four or five months, and after that she will start to see a profit from the investment.

   ”I am definitely ready for the future,” Ms. DiGianni said. “I’m a very big planner when it comes to retirement and making sure that we’re financially prepared for the future, and that was definitely the way to go, not only financially but environmentally.”

   She said she is encouraged by the Four Season’s rise as a solar power.

   ”I think it would be great to have the community be an example for other communities, and I think it’s great the way we’re moving in that direction,” she said.

   For more information on GeoGenix solar panel arrays, call 1-877-447-6769 or e-mail info@geogenix.com.

   The Four Seasons isn’t the only entity in Mansfield to see the light on solar panels. Northern Burlington County Regional High School installed a $3.8-million array after a referendum passed last year, and the school will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 11. The panels already are operational, according to Rosetta Treece, assistant principal at the NBC Middle School.

   ”It was an opportunity for the school district to not only become more energy-efficient but also to generate revenues,” she said. “At the ceremony we’re inviting community to see the fruits of everyone’s labor.”