Last week, one day after celebrating Earth Day, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) voted to establish a pilot program that would assist the 14 district municipalities in the development of solar energy facilities. The program is the next step forward for the commission, which nearly two years ago said it would ultimately like to establish a total 5-megawatt solar farm in the Meadowlands District.

"The NJMC has been a leader in heeding Governor Corzine’s call to fight global warming by aggressively and creatively pursuing initiatives and projects that incorporate renewable energy, green building and other energy-efficient approaches," said NJMC Chairman Joe Doria. "By providing its expertise and funding, the NJMC will help make the Meadowlands more green while keeping more green in taxpayers’ wallets."

Doria, who was formerly mayor of Bayonne before becoming head of the Department of Community Affairs, watched as his town initialized a precedent-setting solar energy program on its city buildings while in office. There, nine of the city’s school rooftops were lined with solar panels, saving the district approximately $500,000 a year.

"By providing its expertise and funding, the NJMC will help make the Meadowlands more green while keeping more green in taxpayers’ wallets," said Doria.

The expertise, according to the pilot program will enable all districts to look to NJMC consultants and the agency’s office of sustainability for assistance with everything from procurement and proper site selection of the solar panels to regulatory compliance and obtaining financial incentives.

Initially, the NJMC will work with the towns that have already expressed interest in the program: Secaucus Kearny, Carlstadt and Rutherford.

Rutherford Mayor John Hipp, whose town currently grapples with an approximately $400,000 per year utility bill, said the town is in informal, but serious talks with the commission as to how best formulate a plan to outfit municipal buildings with solar.

"This isn’t going to happen overnight, but we need to start thinking out of the box," said Hipp. "I want to cut that bill in half. We’re a mature borough and in a good position to put a freeze on hiring, but you will have contractual wage and salary increases. This [energy costs] is something we can reduce, however. Since Trenton is not going to do it [help reduce property taxes], we have to do it ourselves."

Lyndhurst, which has recently announced its own intention to become a Green Community under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said it’s looking at towns like Doria’s as well as Nutley now as guidance for a plan it wants to layout for solar. Officials there said it was finally good to see that the district’s zoning authority has established a program that could help its towns practice what it has been preaching for years.

"The schools all summer long, they just sit there not in operation and they could be just soaking up the sun and we can sell all those energy credits back," said Public Works Commissioner Brian Haggerty. "The idea is to initially pay for it and eventually turn it into a business, where we’re either paying very little in energy costs, or profiting from solar."

Haggerty said the town itself currently has a utility bill hovering around $45,000 a month and with the schools combined, it’s near $75-$80,000 a month. He said all but two of the schools in the district are not flat roofed, making it difficult to erect an efficient solar array, but all municipal buildings are, from the parks department building to town hall.

"Of course, people would say that you have to bond for this, but the savings on energy costs alone would be more than enough to pay down a bond and then after that, you’re just saving or turning a profit," said Haggerty. "It’s a smart move and I think every community should be doing it."

With its solar contract for the 700-kilowatt display, contracted with energy group Epuron, the NJMC is expected to absorb the energy needs of 51 percent of the commission’s headquarters and over the course of 20 years, save $2.8 million in energy costs. That deal calls for Epuron to sell the NJMC power at one cent per kilowatt-hour, while it currently pays 13 cents. Once the contract commences in 2027, the commission will pay 1.2 cents with inflation. Each year, the panels, which will be erected along Disposal Road from North Arlington to the commission building, will generate approximately 800-killowatts of power. Epuron is expected to walk away with approximately $17 million by the end of the contract.

In addition to announcing the solar pilot program, or Municipal Solar Assistance Program, the commission also authorized $20,000 to each of its 14 municipalities to put toward the purchase of a hybrid vehicle for their municipal fleets. So far, the NJMC has gone green on one-third of its fleet while locally; both Lyndhurst and North Arlington have added GEM cars to theirs. The GEM cars, or Global Electric Motorcars, are zero-emission electric vehicles.