The Garden State sites – a 553 kW system in North Brunswick and a 1.99 MW system in Somerset – are expected to produce 3,255 MWhs of clean, renewable energy each year.

The electricity generated will be sold to municipal, commercial and residential community solar customers, as well as local utilities.

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved 105 applications, which will produce enough power for approximately 33,000 homes.

The company has expanded its power portfolio with its second project located on a remediated former paper mill site in Hunterdon County.

The 49-acre Warren County site, which houses a state-of-the-art, 10-megawatt installation operated by NJR Clean Energy Ventures III, sold for $3.5 million.

The project, located in Wood Ridge, is one of four Duke Realty Community Solar Installations that will provide almost 2.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

The 10,000-panel project will be built and maintained by Brightcore Energy, an industry leader with a successful track record in building photovoltaic projects throughout the United States.

The investment, led by Silicon Valley Bank, will fund a 110-megawatt national portfolio of projects across North Carolina, South Carolina, Maine, Illinois, Virginia and Maryland. 

The number of solar, wind and other clean energy projects is rising across the state, but weaknesses in existing utility grid connections could crimp New Jersey’s ability to utilize renewable, or green power.

“We are on our way to putting New Jersey firmly back in our rightful place as a world leader of innovation,” the governor said July 9. “This modernization of our energy sector isn’t just going to be good for cleaner air and our longtime fight against climate change - which it will be - it’s going to be good for our economy.”

The Asbury Park-based clean energy company said that the course was developed in collaboration with several key community partners from the private and public sectors with a common goal and vision to increase renewable energy awareness and education.

A handful of New Jersey breweries at least partially power their brews by solar energy, including River Horse Brewing Co. in Ewing, Flying Fish Brewing Co. in Somerdale, and Anheuser Busch in Newark.