Developers of solar grid-supply systems – which supply electricity directly to the regional power grid — have formed a new trade group aimed at convincing legislators and a state agency of the benefits of their projects, most of which are locked in bureaucratic limbo.
The formation of the New Jersey Solar Grid-Supply Association comes at critical juncture for the state’s once flourishing solar sector, which has seen investment dry up because of a steep fall in prices owners of solar arrays earn for the electricity their systems produce.
Last summer, Gov. Chris Christie signed a bipartisan bill aimed at helping to stabilize the market, but some of its provisions and policies in the state’s Energy Master Plan discourage development of certain grid-supply projects, primarily those on agricultural land and open space.
The administration’s push to avoid large grid-supply projects on farmland has won approval from many conservation groups, which support efforts to instead utilize garbage dumps and brownfields.
But few dispute the argument that grid-supply projects produce solar electricity at the lowest cost, which reduces the impact on ratepayers who ultimately bear most of the cost of developing solar energy.
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