Officials last week dedicated the state’s largest solar energy site in Milford.Gov. Jack Markell was joined by officials from PSEG Solar Source, Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation Juwi Solar, Inc. and Sunolar Power to dedicate the PSEG Milford Solar Farm. Cost of the project was $50 million. The project went online at the end of 2012.
The 80-acre PSEG Milford Solar farm uses 62,000 solar panels to generate enough solar energy to power approximately 9,000 homes when the sun is shining.
It displaces approximately 12,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, equal to removing about 2,300 cars from the road.
“The Milford Solar Farm helps point the way forward toward a sustainable future for all,” said Randall Mehrberg, president-PSEG Energy Holdings and executive vice president, strategy and development.
“The Milford Solar Farm is a great fit with Delaware’s commitment to a future of clean, renewable energy sources,” Markell said. “The project’s far-reaching benefits began with the construction jobs it brought to the Milford area and will continue with many years of power production and economic benefits for the central part of our state,” Markell said.
Delaware Municipal Electric Corp. will purchase the electricity generated by the solar farm through a 20-year power purchase agreement. The solar energy will be fed into Milford’s municipally-owned electric system. Newark’s electric utility is the largest member of the electric corporation and residents have expressed a desire for the city utility to depend less on coal-fired generators. The electric group has also been turning to natural gas plants as a cleaner source of electricity.
“This project again demonstrates that DEMEC and its municipal utility members are leaders in the deployment of solar generation resources in Delaware,” said Municipal Electric CEO Patrick E. McCullar. “Of the 43.8 megawatts of installed or committed solar generation resources in Delaware, a clear majority (26.5 megawatts, or 61 percent of the total) is installed in DEMEC municipal service territories. This becomes an even more striking statistic when you consider that DEMEC municipal service territories make up less than 15 percent of electric service in the entire state.”
Delaware Municipal’s renewable portfolio includes the Dover SUN Park Project, a 10 megawatt site in Dover, and the 69 megawatt Laurel Hill Wind Farm in Pennsylvania.
Juwi acquired the partially-developed project from Sunolar in mid-2012, after which Juwi, Sunolar, PSEG and the City of Milford worked together to get the project ready for construction. Juwi served as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor and will manage the day-to-day operation of the plant. The $50 million project occupies 80 acres in Kent County. The construction of Milford Solar created about 100 construction jobs.
“The Milford Solar project is the fifth solar PV project we have built in the United States that has a nameplate capacity of more than 10 megawatts,” said Michael Martin, CEO of Juwi Solar, Inc. “Our site team worked tirelessly to build this project over a 90-day time frame – including by celebrating Thanksgiving onsite and enduring the effects of Superstorm Sandy – in order to safely achieve commercial operation before the end of the year 2012.”
PSEG Solar Source owns four additional solar projects, all built by Juwi
The solar projects have drawn fire in some quarters for allegedly contributing to high electric rates in Delaware. At the same time, the cost of solar cells has dropped, although their cost remains above the figure for other generating sources.
The strategy of building large solar plants has also been criticized by those installing smaller arrays of panels on homes and small commercial buildings, since it drives down the price of credits that are bought by utilities to meet their alternative energy requirements. Home owners and businesses sell the credits to reduce the cost of installing solar systems.
Mike Jennings of PG&E Solar said the lower price of solar cells aided the Milford project. He noted that other costs are also a factor in putting a solar plant online.
Click on the following link to view a fact sheet PSEG Milford Solar Farm fact sheet
PSEG Milford Solar Farm factsheet
