PSE&G Solar Farm Put on Hold

The lights went out–at least temporarily–both literally and figuratively on PSE&G’s proposed Jessup Road solar farm Tuesday night.

Amid PSE&G’s proposal before the zoning board, a transformer explosion in National Park briefly cut the power to the West Deptford municipal building, plunging the proceedings into the semidarkness of emergency lighting. Power was restored within a minute or two, but it was an omen of things to come.

PSE&G never got past their first expert presenter on the project, engineer Jennifer Schwenker, after zoning board members, as well as planner Jay Petrongolo and solicitor John Alice, questioned the readiness of the plan.

Those questions mainly circled around details of the plan that weren’t in the presentation, including issues with the setback from Jessup Road and a 20-foot-wide buffer required by the fire marshal.

Petrongolo, in particular, questioned why PSE&G hadn’t come with a revised site plan, rather than agreeing to stipulations on the fly, and board members sided with him.

“You’re asking us to clear your application based on a lot of stuff that’s not on the plan,” board chair Joseph Jarrett said.

Alice criticized the decision to not bring a revised site plan, given that PSE&G aimed to get preliminary and final approval all at once.

“It hasn’t put you in a great position here,” he said.

Some of the questions raised by the board could have potentially resulted in requiring PSE&G to reduce the size of the project, which PSE&G attorney Kevin Moore said could have a detrimental effect on the 859-kilowatt project.

“If it gets any smaller, it won’t be viable,” he said.

The solar farm is proposed for a piece of property that has been leased as farmland, but is zoned as light industrial. To one side of the property, massive trees frame a barn and twin silos; on the other, a cell tower rises and hulking electric pylons stalk to the horizon.

As proposed, the solar farm takes up about four acres, and is hemmed in by wetlands on one end and Jessup Road on the other, in between private property and the PSE&G Thorofare substation on Jessup Road.

Ultimately, the lack of a revised site plan put the brakes on the project, as PSE&G’s representatives agreed to hold off their application for now. They said they'll bring back a revised site plan for the board’s next work session, and potentially seek preliminary and final site plan approval at the public meeting in June.

Though , there were zero members of the public in attendance Tuesday night.