BPU Gets Socked With Half-Billion Dollar Lawsuit

The state yesterday was slapped with a half-billion-dollar lawsuit from large solar developers who claim they have lost millions of dollars invested in projects that the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has prevented from being built.

The litigation is not much of a surprise; the state agency has approved only three grid-supply projects out of 57 pending before it as of this past May. Grid-supply solar systems feed electricity directly into the regional power grid, but generally produce electricity more cheaply than smaller arrays.

The dispute underscores the difficulties the state is having in trying to revive a once flourishing solar sector. At one time it encouraged grid-supply projects, but officials now fear that an influx of those systems could cripple efforts to stabilize the solar industry.

Most of the projects would be built on farmland, something Christie administration officials now hope to avoid. Instead, the administration is pushing to build large grid-supply projects on old garbage dumps and fallow brownfields, former industrial sites with contaminated properties. The cost, however, will be much steeper than building on agricultural land, a prospect some conservation groups oppose.

Read more at NJSpotlight.com

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