The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) has approved an agreement with the Rutgers University Agrivoltaics Program (RAP) to facilitate the development and implementation of a dual-use solar pilot program over the next three years.
The program is designed to demonstrate and investigate the compatibility of agricultural or horticultural production with solar infrastructure on the same property. It enables the installation and operation of up to 200 MW of DC PV installation capacity over three years, which the circuit board can expand to 300 MW of DC over five years. Individual solar projects will be limited to 10 MW DC.
The program and the results of related research requirements form a permanent program that includes standards for the construction and operation of dual-use solar energy projects.
“Approval of this pilot program will provide New Jersey farmers with an additional source of income while benefiting from the Governor’s Clean Energy Strategy,” said NJDA Secretary Douglas Fisher. “The outstanding work done by the Rutgers Experiment Station exemplifies the innovation and potential of agriculture.”
The pilot program encourages solar electricity production facilities located on unpreserved farmland that plan to maintain active agricultural or horticultural use of the land. NJBPU anticipates that the projects participating in the program will be decided after the competition.
