Dive Brief:
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Public Service Electric and Gas on Wednesday brought a solar-plus-storage project at a wastewater treatment plant in New Jersey online.
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The facility, an 896 kW (direct current) PV solar power system paired with 1 MWh battery array, is designed to keep the treatment plant running during an extended outage resulting from severe weather.
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The new facility is one of three similar projects that are part of PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program.
Dive Insight:
Just about a year ago, PSE&G brought online a solar-plus-storage project at Hopewell Valley Central High School in New Jersey. The installation allows the school to serve as a warming or cooling station for the public in case of a power outage.
PSE&G is also installing a solar-storage system at Cooper University Hospital in Camden to provide back-up power for refrigeration needed for vital pediatric medications.
All three projects are part of PSE&G’s response to the widespread flooding that occurred during Hurricane Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coast in 2012. They are also part of PSE&G’s Solar 4 All program that aims to integrate solar power with other technologies to reduce the impact solar has on the grid or increase reliability and grid resiliency for critical facilities during prolonged power outages.
The Solar 4 All program was initially approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities in 2009, authorizing PSE&G to invest up to $515 million to install 80 MW (DC) of solar capacity.
The BPU approved an extension of the program in 2013, allowing PSE&G to invest up to $247 million more to install 42 MW (DC) of solar capacity on landfills and brownfield sites.
The Caldwell facility is part of a 3 MW (DC) carve out within the Solar 4 All program.
In May 2016, PSE&G filed a request with the BPU for a second extension to the program that calls for PSE&G to invest about $275 million to install another 100 MW (DC) of solar capacity on landfills and brownfield sites. The BPU approved that request in November of that year.
