Township Fast Becoming Camco's Solar Energy Capital

With development of a private solar farm on the former Owens Corning property located on Somerdale Road seemingly imminent, a second significant private solar project could be underway in the township even sooner.

The township Planning Board last week approved a 26-acre solar farm along Big Timber Creek, off Lower Landing Road, the Courier-Post reported.

The project, which will be completed on a 64-acre plot in the so-called Glen Oaks Redevelopment Area, could begin as soon as the spring. Marlton-based H2 Contracting will complete the work on behalf of developer CleanLight Power & Energy Gloucester LLC, of Raleigh, NC.

This is just the latest in a series of significant solar-energy projects to move forward in Gloucester Township in 2011.

Over the summer, the township took steps toward acquiring the former Owens Corning property located near Chews Elementary School in order to sell it to a private developer interested in erecting a 12-acre solar farm there.

Officials incidated in September that the township would buy the superfund site, which is and will continue to be monitored by the state Department of Environmental Protection, from Owens Corning for $1.

Project Navigator Ltd., a California-based company, would then pay the township a total of $1.89 million over 20 years to lease the Owens Corning property under the proposal, officials said.

In addition to the lease revenue, township officials also pointed to the energy savings to be realized by residents on local school tax bills.

Project Navigator, which would partner with Chevron Energy Solutions and SunPods on the project, has agreed to sell electricity to Chews School at 5¢ per kilowatt hour over a 15-year period—a significantly cheaper price than the going rate. In September, the average price per kilowatt hour in the Philadelphia area was 17.2 ¢, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in late October.

The California company would sell remaining energy generated by the solar panels to PSE&G.

Villari's Lakeside Restaurant & Bar also installed solar panels over the summer in another, albeit much smaller, private venture.

On the public side of the solar boom, the township in April entered into a shared-services agreement with the Black Horse Pike Regional School District and Gloucester Township Public Schools to have solar panels placed on municipal and school buildings.

"It will be one of the largest shared-services partnerships in South Jersey," Mayor David Mayer said of the municipal-school pact.

Township Council earlier this month approved Remington & Vernick Engineers to investigate the feasibility of a solar farm at the GEMS superfund site in Erial—a property owned by the township.

The township also launched use of solar panels on the municipal building's roof earlier this year in a project funded by the federal Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant.