The basics:

• New Jersey opens 250MW capacity block for community solar projects
• Industrial rooftops seen as key to scaling clean energy without land use
• Leaders from NJBPU, Solar Landscape, Greek Real Estate Partners and labor unions back the effort

“Solar is faster, cheaper, cleaner and local,” New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Deputy Director Allison McLeod said, surrounded by a rooftop of simmering solar panels under clear blue skies. 

After the New Jersey community solar program expansion announcement last week, statewide leaders from the public and private spheres celebrated the added capacity April 28 during a news conference held by NJ LCV atop an East Brunswick industrial building – under a blazing sun. 

The collection of speakers up on the roof with McLeod suggests that solar is also collaborative. Other representatives came from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the state Legislature, local officials, Greek Development, Solar Landscape, NAIOP New Jersey and more. 

Registration opens April 30 for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities’ next capacity block of 250 megawatts (about 20 million square feet) for its Community Solar Energy Program. The window closes May 15. 

A community solar subscriber herself, NJBPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said the program offers residents the opportunity to save at least 15% on their electric bill. Characterizing the latest round as “just another step” in the state’s path toward establishing itself as a national leader in the community solar space, she also looked ahead.  

“Because it’s not just about this 250 megawatts; it’s about the next whatever number of megawatts that we’re going to open. And we look forward to preparing for another allocation of community solar going forward this year,” Guhl-Sadovy said. 

Fast-acting

According to NJ LCV, a statewide nonprofit offering a political voice for the environment, community solar already serves more than 28,000 families and businesses statewide. 

In addition to highlighting solar as the cheapest source of energy, renewable or otherwise, McLeod also noted in her remarks that in New Jersey these projects are faster to interconnect to the regional grid.

Grace Power, general counsel and executive vice president of government affairs at Solar Landscape, underscored the pace of these projects, which, according to her, can be built and energized in as little as 12 months. “And if you think about every other form of generation, whether it’s a natural gas plant, a large solar field, no other type of energy generation comes even close to how quickly we can bring new generation online.” 

According to a February report from The Brattle Group prepared for ConservAmerica, renewable energy and storage projects can help meet energy demands now, while other resources pose longer timelines. 

Beyond the immediate availability from sectors such as solar and wind, nuclear restarts posed the next best option in terms of timeliness for generation. However, with just three facilities across the country, the report put the projected deployment for that source between 2027–2030. Meanwhile, projected peak demand growth runs from 2024–2030, according to the paper. 

As for natural gas, Brattle said the source “provides flexible backup,” but noted there are fewer megawatts currently under development, along with the four-to-five-year development cycle they necessitate.  

Case in point

Work on the East Brunswick project started about four to five months ago, Greek Real Estate Partners Managing Partner David Greek told NJBIZ. 

During his remarks, he highlighted the ongoing rooftop project as a “great example” of the “hidden” benefits the industry fosters. The choice of words was apt. Standing on the street below – or even driving by – you’d have no way of knowing the rooftop of 8 Elkins Road was covered in a sea of solar panels. According to speakers during the event, the installation in East Brunswick will serve 150 local families. And it will deliver more than $400 in energy savings per year for those households. 

“And in addition to systems like this, what happens inside our buildings is a very important part of the economy and what happens underneath our buildings as well when we build them,” said Greek, also a founder and chair of Circulate NJ. Launched at the end of 2024, the growing coalition aims to educate the public about the benefits the logistics industry brings to the Garden State. 

“Industrial development is one of the largest remediators of brownfield sites across the state of New Jersey. And all of that benefit that we bring to the environment, to the community, to the economy often happens out of the public view,” he said. “We have several of these projects underway and we will do as many as the BPU allows us to.” 

Industrious work

In his company’s experience, the longest part of the process is getting the board to make sure a site can accept the power that is produced. For context, that began back around late 2022, he said. For Greek, the move was part of a larger initiative.  

Working with Solar Landscape, the partners evaluated GREP’s entire portfolio to identify the locations where rooftop systems would make the most sense. Points of consideration include the size of the building, the size of the generating system that can be installed, as well as the age of the roof, according to Greek. Within East Brunswick he said his company has about 10 applications in process. Statewide the figure is “probably closer to 20.” How much ultimately gets built will depend on what capacity the BPU can accept back into the grid from diversified sources, according to Greek. 

In a state that is already land constrained, rooftop solar installations also provide power generation without taking up additional space on the ground as they may in other areas of the country. 

“This is free space, basically. It’s always been here. There’s millions and millions of square feet across [the state]. So if we could just figure out a way to activate more of these rooftops—there’s almost no impact to the community or no impact to the environment,” Greek told NJBIZ. 

Power partner

Power drew attention not just to current energy needs but future ones. With AI and data centers projected to consume 9% of electricity generation by 2030, she highlighted the work Solar Landscape does nationwide. An industry leader, the solar developer almost exclusively focuses on commercial and industrial rooftop solar projects. 

“Across the county we have the capacity to host 400 gigawatts of solar; and currently only about 4% of commercial and industrial rooftops have solar panels on them,” Powers noted.  

East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen described how the program also helped foster community among its collaborators. 

“This idea of community solar is just another great example of how we could work to help our businesses, to help our people in labor and most importantly, to help our residents be able to afford to live in a state that has become increasingly difficult to get by and to afford,” he said.

Assemblyman Kevin Egan, D-17th District, as well as assistant business manager, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 456, and Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak, D-18th District, also spoke during the event. The former highlighted IBEW’s partnership with Solar Landscape. According to him, the union has projects representing more than 50 megawatts in the area with the Asbury Park-based company. In East Brunswick, Pedricktown-based Wysocki Electric is performing the work. 

Meanwhile, Karabinchak focused on efforts in the Legislature to make solar even quicker.  

Building together

In the past two years, Solar Landscape has deployed more than 100 commercial rooftop projects across the U.S. The company has leases totaling more than 150 million square feet with some of the country’s leading commercial real estate companies (Prologis, for example). Last fall, retail giant Walmart announced it would invest in 3 million square feet of rooftop community solar with the company.

When it comes to job creation, these projects have driven demand for 650,000 labor hours, according to Power, the equivalent of 325 full-time jobs. 

Looking ahead, whether it’s building capacity, projects or renewable sources it’s “partnership from top down and bottom up that’s going to transition us and help us build a cleaner, cheaper, more resilient New Jersey,” McLeod said.