Making energy while the sun shines
Jersey's solar program a model for the nation
BY MICHAEL REILLY

Jennifer Cottone is part of a small but rapidly growing group of New Jersey residents who no longer have to worry about the rising cost of electricity.

In fact, she's expecting Public Service Electric & Gas to owe her a little money at the end of the year.

Last week, construction workers finished installing 40 solar panels on the roof of her two-story house in the Fords section of Woodbridge. On a sunny day, the panels will supply her with 8 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power her entire house for a day -- even with newly installed central air conditioning -- with some left over.

The solar panels cost about $50,000, but the state Board of Public Utilities' Clean Energy Program is picking up $30,000 of the cost.

"I don't have really expensive electric bills, about $300 a month. But I'm anticipating producing more than I'll be using," Cottone said. "In essence, it's going to pay for itself in five to seven years, so why not do it?"

An increasing number of New Jersey homeowners are asking the same question, especially with the cost of electricity rising once again. After the state deregulated the utility industry in 1999, the cost of electricity actually fell. But starting in 2003, when the state lifted a cap on rates, the cost has steadily risen.

Since the BPU's Clean Energy Program began in 2003, it has approved and subsidized 550 solar installations statewide. In the past six months, 120 have been approved.

Scott Hunter, the renewable energy program administrator, said most of the growth has come from residential installations. Of the roughly one megawatt of solar generation capability installed in New Jersey in the past six months, 750 kilowatts, or 75 percent of it, was installed on private homes.

Residential installations account for 475, or about 86 percent, of the 550 solar installations the BPU has helped pay for in the past two years.

Hunter said the applications for new arrays show no signs of slowing. "We could double that number again in a year if we wanted to," he said.

According to officials at the Clean Energy Program and the Solar Energy Industry Association, a trade group based in Washington, D.C., there are a couple of major reasons why New Jersey is enjoying such interest in solar energy.

The first and most significant is the state's policy of subsidizing 60 to 70 percent of the traditionally high cost of installing the arrays.

The Clean Energy Program uses its annual budget of $140 million to promote conservation and for clean energy projects. One quarter of the money is set aside specifically for renewable energy projects like solar panels.

The funding comes from the "societal benefits charge," which costs each energy customer about $5 per year.

Apart from the rebate program, the BPU has also approved "net-metering," which effectively allows customers' electric meters to run backward whenever they generate an energy surplus.

In such a case, the surplus of energy that is sold to the grid gets added up at the end of each year, and the homeowner gets a check from the utility companies for the wholesale value of the energy.

Tom Matulewicz, co-owner of GeoGenix, said the panels he installed on Cottone's house can be thought of as a bank account for energy.

"If Jennifer goes on vacation for a week, and the panels are soaking up the sun, she builds up the bank account," Matulewicz said. "If it's a cloudy day, and she's using a lot of energy," she makes a withdrawal.

BPU President Jeanne Fox said the rebate program, coupled with net-metering, explain why New Jersey has achieved one of the best solar energy policies in the country.

"Our policies are simple and easy to understand," Fox said.

Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industry Association, said that while a handful of states offer similar subsidy programs, the comprehensive policy has made New Jersey "the flagship we hold up for other states throughout the country to follow."

With the recent passage of a comprehensive energy policy in Washington, the federal government is adding a 30 percent tax credit toward new solar installations to the state subsidies New Jersey businesses and residents already receive.

The federal credit, which will be effective for two years starting Jan. 1, is capped at $2,000 for homeowners, but has no limit for commercial installations.

"What I think you'll see is a lot more business installations going in throughout the state," Resch said.

Johnson & Johnson has already taken advantage of the program.

At its consumer products complex in Skillman, Somerset County, the company is installing a 500-kilowatt solar array. Next month, workers at J&J's world headquarters in New Brunswick will begin construction on 1,232 solar panels that will line the roof of a parking deck. The panels will provide 250 kilowatts of power to the building, enough to provide electricity to 40 conventional homes.

The solar installations at New Brunswick and Skillman are part of J&J's Climate Friendly Energy Policy, a sweeping proposal designed to reduce the company's environmental impact by using clean energy technologies.

"We aim to reduce carbon emissions by 7 percent companywide from what they were in 1990 by 2010," said Dennis Canavan, executive director for worldwide energy management at J&J.

For more information about the BPU's Clean Energy Program, visit http://www.njcleanenergy.com/.