PSE&G unveils project to install solar panels at 5 Newark schools

newark-solar-panels.jpgAndrew Powers, Program manager at PSE&G for the Solar 4, shows some of the solar panels that are installed on the roof at Central High School in Newark on 10/21/10.

NEWARK — Homes and businesses across the state will run off power generated panels on the rooftops and carports of a handful of Newark schools, PSE&G said today.

Officials from the New Jersey utility company unveiled a project that will install more than 9,000 solar panels at five city schools by the end of 2010 as part of their Solar 4 All initiative.

As part of the $515 million investment program in renewable energy and green jobs, PSE&G is targeting big, flat-roofed buildings in urban enterprise zones. The plan, which also places panels on utility poles, is to generate 80 megawatts of solar capacity for the state by 2013.

The five Newark schools — Central High School, Barringer High School, Park Elementary School, Camden Middle School and Camden Elementary School — are the first learning institutions in the state to have solar panels that create energy to flow directly into an electrical grid. The systems will generate 2.6 megawatts, enough to power about 400 average sized homes, according to a PSE&G press release.

As a part of the project, the company also is creating curriculum for district ninth-graders to learn about various types of renewable energy.

"Not only will students be able to access and compete for one of the primary careers going forward in this country and in this world, but we’re also making our contribution to a healthier community," said Newark Schools Superintendent Clifford Janey during a presentation at Central High School, where 1,800 solar panels are fastened to the roof.

Janey, who called the partnership between the district and the utility company a "historic" one, said the solar panels will reduce the district’s annual carbon footprint by 400 tons.

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The solar panels, however, will not directly generate energy for the schools, a PSE&G spokesman said. The energy instead will flow into the company’s system to be used throughout the state; PSE&G is leasing the school rooftops from the district for about $100,000 a year.

Fran Sullivan, a spokesman for PSE&G, said the lease agreement is for 20 years and the payments will increase every year, depending on how much energy the panels generate and the annual increase in the price of electricity.

"We’ve turned roof space into a revenue producer for the schools," said Fred Lynk, a PSE&G market strategy and planning manager, as he stood on Central High’s roof surveying the shiny black panels. "In the middle of the city of Newark, there’s not a lot of land around but with the panels, the roofs can generate power for the community."

Lynk said the utility company spent $14 million to create the solar systems on top of the schools.

Most of the systems were installed within two months. Officials said the final system at the city’s Camden Middle School and Camden Elementary School will be completed by the end of this year.

Next month, district teachers will be introduced to the renewable energy curriculum developed by PSE&G. The class, which will be hands-on and will teach students about wind turbines, solar panels and hyrdo energy, will begin sometime during this school year at Central High and Barringer 9th Grade Academy, said Shauwea Hamilton, PSE&G’s manager of community affairs. Hamilton said as part of the class, students also will have the opportunity to go on field trips and take summer internships.

Janey said in the future each school will be outfitted with the panels.

"This is the stuff one would not dream of," he said. "It’s Star Trek-like, but it’s real. And it’s the best illustration of why public schools exist. They exist for the development of our children but also for our families and communities — this makes a connection between all three."

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