Warren Buildings to Have Solar Panels Set by November

The Somerset County Improvement Authority has selected SunLight General Capital, of New York City and Englewood, for the second phase of its countywide solar-panel project, the county anounced Thursday.  

SunLight General Capital, founded in 2009, will undertake the solar installation projects at 32 public buildings in the county, including the Warren Township Department of Public Works building on Bardy Road, Central School, the Angelo L. Tomaso School and Warren Middle School. School officials in Warren and Watchung Hills Regional High School have been discussing other possible projects in the event the county adds a third round.

SunLight General Capital’s other solar projects in New Jersey include Teterboro Airport, the Bergen County Plaza Parking Garage and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

“We’re very pleased to be entering the second phase of this taxpayer-neutral initiative,” said Freeholder Director Robert Zaborowski.  “Somerset County is one of the first counties in New Jersey to pursue a countywide method of reducing energy costs for public-sector buildings.”

Construction of the first group of solar panels at 32 public-sector locations in 15 municipalities and school districts began in late 2010 and is expected to be completed by the end of November 2011.

The Freeholder Board approved a $52-million bond guaranty ordinance in February allowing the second phase to be financed through the Somerset County Improvement Authority. 

Participating municipalities and school districts will not incur debt service or out-of-pocket costs.  Towns and school districts will be responsible for paying their electric bills, at a reduced rate as a result of the solar-energy production.  Annual cost savings on the electricity generated by the solar panels to be located at each local government facility is estimated at almost 60 percent, depending on solar project size and other factors.

The second phase of the Somerset County Improvement Authority’s countywide solar program was administered by the Authority’s solar team consisting of the firms of special energy counsel DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole, LLP, and Inglesino, Pearlman, Wyciskala & Taylor, LLC, energy consultants Birdsall Services Group and Gable Associates, and financial advisor Phoenix Advisors, LLC.

The county expects to recoup all costs, including those associated with hiring legal and technical consultants who have developed the program, from SunLight General Capital through SunLight’s generation of electricity and sale of the corresponding solar renewable-energy certificates (SRECs), thereby making the entire project taxpayer-neutral.