new jersey

solar energy in New Jersey

New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities announced this week it has joined a prestigious renewable energy club, becoming the third US state to pass the 1-gigawatt mark in total installed solar capacity.[read more]

Gas Prices via Shutterstock

With New Jersey about to end the odd-even gasoline rationing imposed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, we have an opportunity to consider whether this kind of response actually produces better outcomes than the price increases by which the market would normally balance supply and demand. Most of the defenses of "price gouging" that I've seen, including Matthew Yglesias's recent posting in Slate, tend to focus mainly on its supply-side aspects.[read more]

A crisis is coming for the New Jersey solar power installation industry. Stringent solar power purchase requirements imposed on electric utilities (i.e. on electric utility ratepayers) has turned the state into the nation’s second largest for solar power capacity installed, behind only sunny California.But now that installed capacity is...[read more]

 Several forums, including this one, covering residential solar developments have commented on the volatility of SREC markets in some states. But few have yet to note the potentially tremendous impact on solar leasing, and residential solar adoption in general, in those SREC states experiencing severe fluctuations in pricing. You...[read more]

New Jersey is known as the "Garden State," but drive through it these days and you see a different kind of harvest: solar energy. You'll find solar panels on large suburban homes and apartment complexes, solar panels on many of the light poles, solar panels on large warehouse facilities, and box stores. There's even a 7,000-panel, 1.4-...[read more]

Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has released its latest report which showed that U.S. electric utility providers are including more and more solar power generation in their portfolios and much of this increases is happening outside of California. (Click here for the Executive Summary of the report)The Solar Electric Power...[read more]

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the United States' first market-based regulatory mechanism to reduce carbon emissions, has completed its 12th quarterly carbon credit auction. The auction [pdf] saw 12,537,000, or 30%, of the 42,034,184 available carbon allowances sold.  25 entities submitted successful bids to acquire...[read more]

The pace of solar installations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is ironically destroying the incentives that make such installations possible.Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs), existing in states that have Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), represent the environmental attributes from a solar facility, and are produced each time a...[read more]

The New York Times recently published its top 10 solar states in the United States for 2010, ranking states based on installed solar power capacity. Most people will not be surprised to see a number of western states on the list but they might be surprised to see so many eastern states making noise on the list as well.To begin,...[read more]

Everyone seems to know that California currently leads in the nation in installed solar capacity. Many, however, do not know that New Jersey is the second largest solar state in the U.S. with 137 megawatts of installed solar power in 2010 which was almost a 140% increase over the 57.3 megawatts installed in 2009 and 517% increase over...[read more]

I received a depressing press release last evening. Exelon has announced a decision to close Oyster Creek in 2019, 10 years before the expiration of its current operating license. The company has announced that the decision is based on several factors. As the plant ages the cost of maintenance gradually increases; the selling price of...[read more]

Utility will close Oyster Creek in 2019 ten years before the license is up Gov. Chris Christie (right) told a group of editors last week “he will decide by the end of the year” whether or not to require the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to install $700 million in cooling towers in order reduce the amount of water the plant takes from...[read more]

Winter is usually a quiet time for solar energy news, but Con Edison Development and Panda Power Funds just turned that paradigm on its head by breaking ground on a 20-megawatt (MW) solar power array in Pilesgrove, New Jersey.   Solar power is big in New Jersey (See? See? SEE!? See for yourself!), and the Pilesgrove solar farm...[read more]

While New Jersey is best known as the birthplace of both of your gbNYC editors — there’s a rest stop named after us on the Parkway, just south of Cheesequake — it’s also a small, proud state with a lot going on. From terrible basketball teams to even worse politics, from fried hot dogs to other foods that are not nearly as delicious as...[read more]

PSEG will file an early site permit for the state’s fifth reactor Environmental groups in New Jersey have something new to be unhappy about. Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) it will file an Early Site Permit (ESP) for a new nuclear reactor to be located in Lower Alloways Creek Township...[read more]