PSE&G Launches Solar Power Campaign

It will require requesting and receiving authorization from New Jersey to add surcharges to bills, but PSE&G is moving forward with a plan to install solar power collectors on its utility poles and other properties around the state.

The proposal, filed today with the Board of Public Utilities, calls for the installation of solar panels on 200,000 utility poles – the largest such project in the nation – as well as on schools, municipal buildings, low-income housing and brownfield sites.

The panels would produce electricity that would be fed into the utility’s power grid.

The proposal calls for a five-year rollout, Ralph LaRossa, PSE&G’s president and chief operating officer, said by phone.

Customers would pay only a small part of the cost — an average of 10 cents a month during the first year. That will increase to 35 cents a month by the fifth year, but will drop after that, the company said.

The company would recoup most of its costs through a combination of sources, including the sale of energy, adjustments from the regional power grid, a federal investment tax credit and the sale of energy credits, LaRossa said.

So, the average customer would see their annual bill rise between $1.20 and $4.20 by the fifth year to install the solar power arrays around the state.

The plan breaks down as follows: Neighborhood Solar (40 megawatts) - $264 million investment; Local Government Solar (43 megawatts) - $273 million investment; Centralized Solar (35 megawatts) – $221 million investment; and HMFA/Affordable Housing Solar (2 megawatts) - $15 million investment.

When fully implemented, the arrays would produce 120mw of power, or 1% of the state's peak needs. It would also satisfy only 7% of the state's renewable energy requirements by 2020.

I'd say it's a good start, but it also highlights that the private sector is moving forward on alternative energy even without government interference or supposed stimulus from the government. Now imagine if $13.2 billion could put arrays on utility polls around the entire nation, adding 2,000mw to the grid (based on the neighborhood solar portion of the PSE&G allotments, multiplied out by 50 states).

That's far more concrete than any of the plans put forth by Congress, and PSE&G did so without a stimulus check.

Still, this is a stopgap because the only way to truly wean the nation off petroleum based fuels is to go nuclear, and the state and federal government continues to stand in the way of development in that area.