Solar project has hit a snag in Moorestown
Last night’s council meeting sounded strangely like a funeral service. The bereaved? The township’s once promising solar system plan. A township representative presented a 15-minute plan to fill the council members in on the sorry state of solar panels systems currently in New Jersey.
The township has been considering the construction of a solar system at the same location as the sewer treatment plant along Pine and Lenola Road, which runs along the Rancocas Creek.
Russ Trice, the Moorestown Township Engineer, explained that a recent bill passed by the State Legislature last week designed to increase the value of solar renewable energy certificates — certificates representing one mega-watt-hour of electricity generated from a solar energy installation — will not go into effect until 2014.
The legislation that was passed would alter the amount of solar energy that electrical energy supplier have to purchase each year. Right now, Trice said that the value of an SREC is below $100, a significant drop from 5 to 10 years ago when the SREC market was at its highest.
However, because of a boom in the production of solar farms and solar energy systems, the market has become flooded with SRECs and driven the price down, Trice said.
Not only are the SREC prices down considerably, but the potential location that the township was planning on building its solar system is rife with problems. The site is along a floodplain and in the midst of a wetlands area, so the township would have to get special permits from the department of environmental protection to build the solar farm in that area, Trice said.
The price for these permits would cost the township about $90,000, Trice said.
Also, to break even on the project, the township would have to sell its SRECs at a minimum of $200, Trice said, well above the average SRECs are going for right now.
“My advice is to wait and see what happens with the SREC market,” Trice said.
The price may go up for the SRECs if the bill goes into effect in 2014, but there’s no stopping developers from building more solar farms and flooding the market with solar energy credits again, Trice said.
Greg Newcomer, a resident who has long supported building a solar system in Moorestown, was dismayed to hear that the township was not considering building a system at this time.
“Is solar dead in the township? Is this what I’m hearing?” Newcomer asked the council member.
Deputy Mayor Greg Gallo said that the idea wasn’t officially dead, but at the moment it doesn’t appear to be cost feasible for Moorestown.
Newcomer said a system could work on the roof of the rec building, a suggestion he’s made several times to the township council members.
“Please look at the rec building for a system on the roof. It could dovetail with the work possibly going into the building,” Newcomer said.
In other township news:
Mayor John Button said the township should have more information about the possible sale of liquor licenses at the next meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, July 9, at 7:30 p.m.
Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust was going to give a presentation at last week’s meeting, but had to pull out at the last minute, Button said.
Despite an ongoing lawsuit from a nearby shopping center — which is suing for the right to purchase one or several liquor licenses from PREIT — Button said that PREIT is moving forward with its plan and more information will soon be available.
