Over the last several months, solar panels have begun to appear at the intersections in the southernmost portion of Bayonne known as Bergen Point, raising questions among residents as to their purpose and origin.
Some believed the panels might be used to help power the cameras provided by Homeland Security to the Bayonne police, but this is incorrect.
“This is not a city project,” said Joseph Ryan, spokesperson for the city. “It is a project being done by PSE&G.”
“This is a project that we started a couple of years ago,” said Richard Dwyer, a manager at PSE&G. “We started in South Jersey and are just getting up to this part of the state.”
“It’s enough to power about 12,500 average-size New Jersey homes.” — Fran Sullivan
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This pole attached solar installation by PSE&G is the largest of its kind in the world.
The solar panels are being installed on residential neighborhoods as well as poles and aluminum street lights along main streets near businesses. The units are 5-feet wide and 2.5-feet high, and weigh about 60 pounds.
They are being installed on poles that offer a clear southerly exposure to the sun.
Once installed, however, PSE&G will not relocate them, even if residents object.
“Some people do not like the way they look,” Dwyer said. “But I think they are unobtrusive.”
More power to the grid
The solar panels are part of a gas and electric company initiative called Solar4All to install 80 megawatts of solar capacity within their service territory by 2012.
“It’s enough to power about 12,500 average-size New Jersey homes,” said Public Service Electric & Gas Spokesperson Fran Sullivan.
The solar panels help PSE&G provide energy to homes in an environmentally friendly way, but residents won’t see a cost savings, according to Sullivan.
“The cost to a typical PSE&G residential electric customer for all solar power is an additional 10 cents a month,” Sullivan said. “Most people don’t even notice.”
Sullivan said that most inquiries they get from the public are not about the cost, but about the panels themselves.
“They want to know what they are, and when we tell people, they tend to think they’re a pretty good idea,” Sullivan said.
He noted, “State policy mandates a certain amount of renewable energy, and PSE&G helps the state make that goal. It was approved under the Corzine administration, and now we are 85,000 panels strong.”
3,000 for Jersey City
Some of the panels – like the approximately 3,000 planned for Jersey City – will appear on utility poles. Others will be “in centralized locations, solar farms, and on rooftop installations,” Sullivan said.
There are farms in Edison, Hamilton Township, Linden, Trenton, and five Newark public schools.
An example of a farm is on the Linden site, where thousands of solar panels are mounted on the ground in front of the town’s generating station at a 30-degree tilt.
“There are even solar systems on warehouses in Perth Amboy,” Sullivan said.
The PSE&G territory that will offer solar panels runs from Bergen County, cutting a path through the state to New Brunswick and south of Camden.
PSE&G has a contract with Petra Solar, a South Plainfield firm, to supply the panels.
Catching the rays
“As long as the panels have clear exposure to the southern sky” they will do their job of generating power, according to Sullivan.
“All these panels on poles are tied directly into the PSE&G electric grid, and they provide solar power to all our customers,” Sullivan said.
Some residents have wondered since the panels are on what laypeople call “light poles,” whether they power streetlights, as well.
They don’t, Sullivan explained. There are no batteries for storing power, so it would be impossible for them to provide power at night when the sun is not shining.
“They provide solar power right there,” Sullivan said. “When the sun is out and shining, they produce electricity and deliver it to the grid to be used at that time.”
The reason the panels are on utility poles is to take advantage of vertical space which PSE&G already owns. The pole-attached units will be installed in about 300 municipalities.
“By utilizing these utility poles, we take up zero land space,” said Al Matos, vice president for renewable and energy solutions for PSE&G. “This is a great way to install a large amount of solar capacity in a crowded state like New Jersey.”
Installation started in 2009. In July of that year, PSE&G received regulatory approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to invest $515 million in solar projects.
Solar power augments other forms of power.
“It’s meant to be another form of electric generation to go along with things like nuclear, natural gas, coal fire plants, and fossil fuels,” he said.
Why solar?
So, if there are so many other ways of generating power, why solar?
“It’s certainly cleaner,” Sullivan said. “Carbon-free generation emits no pollution, and they’re completely silent.”
PSE&G estimates that solar units will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and sulfur oxide in the air.
The yearly reductions, they say, would be the same as removing about 3,800 cars from the road for one year.
What if I want a solar panel?
Towns that have only gas will not be able to get solar panels.
“If a town gets a PSE&G electric bill, that town will get solar panels,” Sullivan said.
Will the pole on your block get a panel?
“We know where all the poles are in towns,” Sullivan said. “Crews will go in and survey and install the panels in one sweep.”
But a pole has to meet three criteria:
-It has to have an unobstructed southerly exposure
-It has to have access to the right voltage electric wire (most households have 120 volts)
-The panel can’t block access to equipment on the pole, such as a capacitor or switch for phone or cable
Maintenance for solar panels is fairly easy, according to Sullivan.
“We monitor them remotely with a radio transponder on the back,” he said, “so we know if one isn’t performing right. Then we go out and fix it or replace it. We don’t have to check on them on a daily basis.”
What if the sun doesn’t shine?
What happens with a solar panel if there is no sun?
“It will produce more power on a sunny summer day when the sun is high in the sky and it’s 98 degrees in July than on an overcast day in February,” Sullivan said. “But even a small amount of sun will generate some electricity.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.