Utility to Install Solar Power One Pole at a Time
Talk about distributed generation! PSE&G, an investor-owned utility based in New Jersey, has won approval for its unique plan to double the state’s solar capacity. The plan will result in 80 new megawatts of solar energy for New Jersey, surpassing every state but California.
Photo Credit: Sietch Blog
The plan is dubbed Solar 4 All and is two-pronged. The first 40 MW of energy will come via very small distributed solar systems, likely single panels generating about 200 watts each. These “microsystems” will be installed on 200,000 existing power poles within PSE&G’s service area and will be hardwired directly to the grid. That’s about as distributed as solar energy can get.
The second 40-MW dose of solar power will be more centralized. PSE&G will install solar “gardens” and roof-top arrays on its own facilities or on land it currently owns or plans to buy. Projects in this segment of the Solar 4 All plan will be 500 kilowatts or more, with at least 25 MW installed on those utility-owned sites.
Of the remaining 15 MW, 10 will be installed on third-party sites, while the last five MW will be placed in New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZ).
PSE&G has now smoothed out the deal with regulators from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and can move forward with the $515 million project. The solar power poles, as well as the rooftop installations, should be completed by 2013, by which time New Jersey will be twice the solar state that it already is …one pole at a time.
Posted on August 31st in Solar News by Dan.
June 29th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I would think that 200,000 panels generating 200W each would generate 40MW, not 40 milliwatts.
July 5th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
DP,
Thanks for pointing out our typo. Indeed it is meant to be 40 megawatts not milliwatts. I’m not sure why it was published as mW.
On that note, I have another correction to divulge. When I wrote this article I was under the mistaken impression that PSE&G was a privately-owned utility. In reality it is the largest and oldest PUBLICLY-OWNED utility in New Jersey.
My apologies on both accounts and thanks to DP-San Diego and all who read Calfinder and participate in the dialogue.
Cheers,
Dan