By Tom Johnson, NJ Spotlight News
The state Board of Public Utilities Wednesday approved more than 300 megawatts of solar projects across the state, a big step boosting one of New Jersey’s most important sources of renewable energy and a key component of Gov. Phil Murphy’s clean-energy agenda.
In a solicitation overseen by the BPU, commissioners quickly approved eight projects across seven counties. That outcome marks a complete reversal of a similar proceeding last summer when the agency rejected all bids that had been submitted because they were deemed too expensive.
In Wednesday’s meeting, the board approved eight of 14 bids submitted by developers as well as a project to build 80 megawatts of energy storage capacity, believed to be the largest project of its kind to move forward in New Jersey.
Welcome news for developers, advocates
There was little comment by the board on its vote, but solar developers and clean-energy advocates were thrilled with the decision.
“Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised,’’ said Fred DeSanti, executive director of the New Jersey Solar Energy Coalition. “This is a signal that the New Jersey grid-supply market is very strong.’’
Most of the approvals were for grid supply projects, which are solar systems that are much more cost-effective because of their scale and thus are less expensive to utility customers who wind up supporting the projects on their monthly bills through incentives to the developers.
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