| On Tuesday, December 15, City of New Jersey | | | | and Sustainability Office and various community |
| officials, along with Weston Solutions, Inc. | | | | groups like the Urban Environmental Institute and |
| executives and Wilson Avenue Realty | | | | NewarkWorks. Graduates earned solar installation |
| representatives, got together for a final inspection | | | | certification from the New Jersey Institute of |
| of a 200-kilowatt rooftop solar system at the | | | | Technology, which prepared them to participate in |
| city’s engineering department motor vehicle | | | | the installation and enables them to find other, |
| garage. | | | | solar-related jobs in the future. |
| Located at 233-249 Wilson Avenue, in | | | | The solar installation was the last step in a |
| Newark’s East Ward, the 55,472-square foot | | | | wide-ranging energy efficiency upgrade at the |
| building, occupied via a long-term lease from | | | | garage, which repairs the city’s fleet of |
| Wilson Ave. Realty, features a $1.3-million system | | | | vehicles, including police cars, fire trucks and |
| which will provide about 83 percent of the | | | | waste removal trucks. The city’s fleet of |
| building’s electricity needs when completed in | | | | 1,100 vehicles includes 463 police cars alone. |
| January of 2010. | | | | In addition to being home to half a dozen solar |
| Comprised of 806 solar photovoltaic panels | | | | panel firms like SeaBright Solar, Soltra Energy |
| delivering 240,719 kilowatt-hours per year, the | | | | Solutions, and Solar Energy Systems LLC, Newark |
| system will prevent about 173 metric tons of | | | | is located in the only state considered a serious |
| carbon dioxide from being emitted by regional | | | | contender to California, which currently ranks |
| utility Public Service Electric & Gas, or PSEG, | | | | number 1 in solar installations nationally. New |
| whose generation mix is about half nuclear, with | | | | Jersey currently produces over 90 megawatts of |
| coal and natural gas making up most of the | | | | solar energy, compared with only a single |
| balance. | | | | megawatt seven years ago. |
| This 173 avoided tons of carbon dioxide, a potent | | | | Much of this solar growth can be attributed to the |
| greenhouse gas, is equivalent to removing 33 cars | | | | state’s Clean Energy Program, which offers |
| from American roads, or planting 4,433 trees, and | | | | an appealing combination of SRECs (solar |
| represents part of New Jersey’s increasing | | | | renewable energy credits, paying about $680 per |
| commitment to clean, renewable solar energy. | | | | megawatt-hour), a state rebate, a sales tax |
| The solar array is the result of a cooperative | | | | exemption, and a net metering policy. In New |
| effort between Wilson and Weston Solutions, Inc., | | | | Jersey, according to recent calculations, a |
| with the latter owning and operating the solar | | | | 5-kilowatt system costing $35,000 can end up |
| panel array and selling power back to the City of | | | | costing as little as $15,000. |
| Newark at a cost below existing retail rates, so | | | | No wonder New Jersey, with solar insolation |
| the city will see an immediate economic benefit. | | | | values half that of California, is going solar by |
| The solar installation also produced job training, via | | | | leaps and bounds. Follow the money. |
| collaboration between the city’s Engineering | | | | |