Viktor Musil
In a Dive Brief:
- According to a Nov. 30 release, Solar Landscape has finished community renewable installations on the rooftops of two warehouses owned by Heitman Capital Management in Monroe Township and South Brunswick, New Jersey.
- The largest finished rooftop community thermal project in New Jersey is the Monroe Township installation. According to the release, the combined capacity of the two installations will be close to 8.8 megawatts.
- The completion marks ongoing growth for Solar Landscape, which recently partnered with self-storage firm Public Storage to introduceover 130 rooftop community solar projects across the U.S.
Obtain Insight:
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, community solar projects are agreements where regional utilities pay thermal providers for the energy generated by the installations, and subscribers receive a portion of that value as credit applied to their electric bill. Even though they are unable to host a solar energy system on their own roof, the model offers building owners and nearby residents the advantages of solar power, allowing hosts to finance solar energy projects and lower their energy costs.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 43 states and the District of Columbia already have community solar projects, and at least 22 states have passed legislation in these jurisdictions encouraging or mandating it.
According to PV Magazine, Solar Landscape has tripled its growth in the last two years as a result of that push, employing over 150 people and building more than 250M of renewable projects and operating and under construction. That expansion will be further fueled by the company’s partnership with Public Storage, which was revealed in August and led to 133 community renewable installations in New Jersey, Maryland, and Illinois. According to Solar Landscape, the partnership projects make up 13% of its 2025 commitment to install solar on more than 1,000 properties.
32 Public Storage locations will be part of the 23M community solar partnership in New Jersey. According to Solar Landscape, its most recent installation will encourage energy equity by offering discounted solar energy to more than 1,400 local homes, with over half of them being reduced- or moderate-income households.
The current project’s completion coincides with the state’s Board of Public Utilities launching its second attempt to solicit solar project costs at a price the agency considered acceptable to ratepayers through its CSI Program.
Following a two-year pilot program, the request is in line with the New Jersey BPU’s vote to completely establish its community thermal program  in August. In July, New York State finished its largest renewable rooftop project to date, adding 17,000 panels to the roof of the distribution center for Medline Industries in Montgomery.
New Jersey state senator Linda Greenstein stated in the release that “Community solar has proven to be an equitable, cost-effective way of providing clean and renewable energy to our most vulnerable residents, helping both lower customer utility costs and help our state reach our goal of 100% renewable energies by 2035.”
