A former landfill in Voorhees Township will become the home of a new solar field aimed at expanding access to renewable energy and lowering utility bills for New Jersey residents.
Once complete, the 13.5-acre community-scale solar array will join the more than 200 solar projects that make up the state’s Community Solar Energy Program.
Started in 2019, the program allows households served by the state’s four major electricity providers — Public Service Electric & Gas, Jersey Central Power & Light, Atlantic City Electric, and Rockland Electric Co. — to subscribe to a participating solar facility to receive renewable energy credits on their bill without requiring that they install solar panels themselves.
The program also mandates that a majority of the available renewable energy be set aside for low- and moderate-income households, who are less likely to be able to install their own systems, program manager Sawyer Morgan said in an email.
There are now more than 51,000 households subscribed to the community solar program statewide, Morgan said, receiving over $18 million in net savings since the first projects came online in 2021.
Most of the existing community solar projects are at capacity for participating households, he said, but the program anticipates over 100 additional solar projects to be completed and operational before the end of the year.
While New Jersey is currently home to 209 community solar projects with a total capacity of 291 megawatts, Morgan said, an additional 392 projects that are in development or under construction will add 703 megawatts of capacity to the grid.
“These projects are all on rooftops, canopies, landfills, contaminated sites, mining sites, and certain bodies of water as floating solar,” he said, including the solar project in Voorhees.
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The 35-acre landfill on Centennial Boulevard ceased operations in 1972, and the property was acquired by the township five years later. In the decades since, the land has remained largely untouched, unable to be developed because of its prior use.
Now, solar panels are expected to cover about half the property, according to development plans approved by the Voorhees Township Planning Board last month. The exact configuration of the panels will be finalized before construction begins, the plans show.
The developer, Voorhees Solar LLC, was not immediately available for comment about the construction schedule, overall cost, and other project details. The company is owned by the Pegasus Cos. Inc., a wireless and broadband service provider based in Bala Cynwyd, according to the application submitted to the township.
“We can’t build a park or redevelop it with homes,” said Stephen Steglik, Voorhees Township administrator. “The only other option was keeping it empty and in its current state.”
At least with the solar project, he said, the township can create savings for residents while also collecting nearly $900,000 in one-time land lease fees.
The project will have the capacity to produce around four megawatts of energy when operating at full power, according to the project plans, enough to power up to 4,000 typical households.
Of the energy is generated by the project, 51% is going to be dedicated to low- and moderate-income households, Steglik said.
“While costs are going higher and higher, at the very least Voorhees Township is trying to take steps to maintain utility costs and at least try to save people a little bit of money,” he said.