Let the sun shine: Solar power latest innovation at N.J. farms
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
AP Business Writer
August 7, 2005, 11:12 AM EDT
TRENTON, N.J. -- Move over, Jersey tomatoes. Some innovative New Jersey farmers are producing a new crop: energy.
The farmers are putting solar power systems over barn roofs and fields to make electricity for their homes, farm buildings and irrigation systems _ while reducing pollution with a clean, renewable energy source.
A further lure for the farmers is a unique program that uses state rebates, credits and investor funds to cover all the upfront costs of the expensive solar systems, including maintenance. The program also guarantees farmers at least 10 percent savings on their electric bills.
"That is just brilliant," said Carol Tombari, a senior project leader at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.
Tombari said she knows of no such programs elsewhere, noting experts consider New Jersey to have the best combination of financial incentives and policies to encourage renewable energy.
Barely a year into what's called the Power Crop Initiative, two dozen New Jersey farms have new solar systems running or are getting them installed soon, and dozens more are planned.
"It's a great concept," said Ronny Lee, a sixth-generation farmer and owner of Lee Turkey Farm in suburban East Windsor, which also produces fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Lee, who last fall became the first New Jersey farmer to get a solar system under the project, said on sunny days his system produces more energy than he uses.
"What I don't use goes back through my line and into the public grid, and I get credit for it," said Lee, who is hosting agricultural officials at an event Monday promoting the project. "It makes a lot of sense."
Lee had his system installed on a barn roof that faces due south, where it captures the most sunlight and shades the roof, keeping turkeys inside cooler during the summer. He said farmers could also set up solar systems over marshy areas to produce electricity from unusable land.
The initiative is a partnership of the New Jersey Farm Bureau and Flemington-based Sun Farm Network, which designs, installs and maintains solar systems on farms, homes, churches and other buildings.
The partnership uses rebates from the state Board of Public Utilities' Office of Clean Energy to cover about half the system's costs, said Pamela Frank, Sun Farm's director of marketing and public relations. Under a second state program to encourage production of clean energy, credits called renewable energy certificates, for the solar power the farmers produce, are sold to utilities or companies wanting to support renewable energy.
In Lee's case, Frank said, the combined financial incentives covered about two-thirds of the $386,000 price tag for his system and his 20-year maintenance contract with Sun Farm. Credits for the solar power he produces each month will pay off the balance on his system over 20 years. The system could last up to 40 years.
Frank said the first 10 systems alone will prevent more than 4 million pounds of emissions of carbon dioxide, a primary cause of global warming.
The New Jersey Farm Bureau notified its 8,000 farmer members about the project 18 months ago, and at least 15 percent have shown interest, said bureau president Rich Nieuwenhuis.
New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Charles Kuperus said a majority of New Jersey farmers eventually might embrace solar power, which he thinks also would work for places such as vegetable and fruit packing sheds and horse barns.
"We're going to see this catch on," Kuperus said.
The New Jersey program is unusual in that government support for renewable energy has favored other types over solar, such as wind power and biodiesel, which converts crop wastes such as cornstalks into energy, said Michael Bowman, an eastern Colorado farmer.
Bowman is on the steering committee of an alliance called the Agricultural Energy Group that recently began the "25 X '25" campaign, named for its goal of having farms and ranches produce 25 percent of the U.S. energy supply by 2025 from sources including solar and wind power, and methane from animal manure.
"Solar has a very high value," he said, partly because it's produced during daylight hours when electricity use peaks.
But Peter Thomas, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Business and Cooperative Programs, said the other forms of alternative energy still have a faster payback than solar power. He said various USDA agencies have programs promoting solar power.
His program over the last two years has given 11 grants worth about $1.5 million for solar systems, mostly on farms, and this year has 34 applications for grants, far more than it can cover. But funding has been increasing a bit the last few years, and $22.8 million in grants and loan guarantees for solar systems for farms and rural businesses recently became available.
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