Solar Field On Ex-Landfill Nears Completion In Berkeley

BERKELEY, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy recently made a visit to Berkeley Township to celebrate the end of Earth Week and the near completion of the township’s solar field.

Murphy met with Mayor John Bacchione on April 26 as Berkeley hosted the governor’s press conference announcing a slew of new solar initiatives statewide.

CS Energy’s new Eagle Solar I and II community solar projects are nearing completion at the site of a 40-acre former landfill in Berkeley. The 10 MW projects will power approximately 1,600 homes across the region while providing a 20 percent discount to all subscribers, including 51 percent low and moderate income (LMI) customers, a move that is expected to produce annual household savings of more than $200 and just under $7 million over the 20-year lifetime of the project for all 1,600 homes.

The first phase of the massive undertaking saw the 40-acre landfill closed and capped after roughly 40 years, at no cost to the township, representing the first time that state community solar incentives were leveraged by a solar developer to finance the closure of a former landfill. This paved the way for construction of the solar project – one of the two largest community solar projects in New Jersey – which was made possible, in large part, by support from NJBPU and collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.

“This project achieves many goals in Berkeley Township, which include the final capping of our long-closed landfill, providing green energy to our residents at a discounted rate, and improving the environment by reducing our carbon footprint,” Bacchione said. “I would like to thank New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities, Department of Environmental Protection, and Pinelands Commission, as well as Eagle Solar I and II for the opportunity to move forward with this clean energy project.”

Ground was broken on the project just about one year ago. CS Energy and Berkeley Township entered a public-private partnership to close the landfill in 2020 and spent nearly two years completing all relevant studies and permitting work required to make the project a reality.

“This project sets a new standard for sustainable development and public-private partnership,” said Eric Millard, CS Energy Chief Commercial Officer. “Using the development of community solar, which delivers discounted electricity to working families, we were able to remediate a landfill that was untouched for more than 40 years. With Governor Murphy's continued leadership we look forward to replicating this successful model throughout New Jersey.

“Earth Week is not just a time for reflection or contemplation. It is a time for action. It is a time to take bold steps in caring for our environment and advocating for our neighbors who have endured generations of environmental injustice,” Murphy said. “New Jersey is all in on clean energy. We are on track this year to procure more solar than ever before, which will help us hit all of our solar goals, and more importantly, make solar energy more affordable and accessible than ever before while righting many wrongs of the past.”