NJ Meadowlands Solar Project Wins $8.5 Million in Stimulus

NJBiz.com is reporting that a proposed Meadowlands solar project has won the largest NJ stimulus award to build what will be the largest solar installation in the state when it is completed. The new site will be even larger than New Jersey's current solar behemoth, a massive installation on the roof of the Atlantic City Convention Center (pictured below).

"The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s project has won the biggest of the stimulus awards, at $8.5 million; it also plans to install the largest solar farm in the state, with a capacity of 5 megawatts, said Brian Aberback, spokesman. Requests for proposals to build the project will be out later this month, he said.

The Meadowlands project is expected to create about 80 jobs during its construction, save $389,000 annually from displacing fossil fuel generation and avoid 4,000 tons of harmful emissions per year, according to the governor’s office.

The project will come up on a 35-acre former landfill in Kearny that has been closed for 30 years, Aberback said, and the energy savings will go towards the agency’s target of producing 20 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020 — also the state energy master plan’s target year to meet 30 percent of the state’s energy needs through alternative energy sources."