Page 16 - RE-NJ

14 MAY 2025
COMING TOGETHER
Real estate, environmental leaders see continued partnership
as New Jersey’s landmark community solar program expands
S tate regulators have renewed
their support for a landmark
program that has created
not only new revenue streams
for warehouse owners and solar
developers, but a source of common
ground for the business and
environmental communities.
Leaders from each stakeholder
group were among those on hand in
late April for an event marking the
expansion of the concept known as
community solar, which brings clean
energy and cost savings to thousands
of New Jersey residents. That typically
begins with owners of industrial
buildings and other facilities who,
under the state policy, can make their
properties available to fi rms that build
rooftop solar panels and sell energy
directly to the grid.
The program, which requires that at
least 51 percent of all power generated
goes to low- and moderate-income
subscribers, is now entering a third
phase after the New Jersey Board of
Public Utilities approved another 250
megawatts of capacity to be built by
solar developers.
“Community solar empowers
New Jersey’s
warehouse and
logistics facility
owners to meet
growing energy
demands while
strengthening
connections in
the communities
David Greek
we build,” said
David Greek, managing partner at
Greek Real Estate Partners. “We’re
proud to host projects like this on
our rooftops and look forward to
energizing them soon.”
The fi rm has been one of the most
By Joshua Burd
active participants in the New Jersey
Community Solar Energy Program,
which has provided landlords with
a low-maintenance, lower-risk
opportunity to monetize their unused
rooftop space. It also hosted the
April 28 event in East Brunswick that
followed the BPU’s vote to expand
the program, drawing a coalition
of elected offi cials and business,
political and environmental leaders
who credited Gov. Phil Murphy’s
administration for pioneering the
concept with a law he signed in 2018.
The program now serves more than
28,000 New Jersey subscribers, who
have received some $37 million in bill
credits with net savings of more than
$7 million since it began, according
to the BPU. The latest 250-megawatt
capacity block opened to new project
registrations on April 30.
“We applaud Governor Murphy
and his administration for taking a
concrete step to tackle high energy
prices by
expanding
access to a
program that
creates local
jobs while
fi ghting climate
change,”
said Allison
Allison McLeod
McLeod, deputy
director of the New Jersey League
of Conservation Voters. “Community
solar represents a win for the
environment, a win for the businesses
who benefi t from hosting solar
projects, a win for workers and, most
important, a win for working families
who will see their monthly energy
bills dramatically decrease as they
plug into clean, renewable energy.”
The event was held on the rooftop of