PSE&G, a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., has received approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for its Solar 4 All program. Under the initiative, PSE&G will install, own and operate 80 MW of solar by 2013. The $515 million investment will double New Jersey's solar capacity.
The program comprises two segments, each 40 MW in size. The first segment consists of installing a solar unit (small distributed solar system of approximately 200 watts) on 200,000 utility poles in PSE&G's service territory, which includes the state's six largest cities and roughly 300 rural and suburban communities. It will be the largest pole-attached solar installation in the world, the utility says.
The solar units will be connected directly into PSE&G's electric distribution system, and the power will be sold into the PJM wholesale grid.
Petra Solar Inc. has been selected to produce 200,000 smart solar systems for the utility-pole installations. Petra's SunWave system combines highly distributed, grid-connected photovoltaic generation and smart-grid communications capabilities.
The company says that under the $200 million contract, it will also create more than 100 green jobs in installation; research and development; and operations and manufacturing of the pole-mounted, grid-connected solar PV systems.
The second segment of PSE&G's program will focus on centralized solar, with PSE&G developing solar gardens and rooftop installations on facilities it owns and at third-party sites.
SOURCES: PSE&G, Petra Solar
