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Phillipsburg has committed to buying electricity for 20 years from a solar installation proposed to be built over farmland in a way that permits farming to continue there.
Town council on Tuesday voted unanimously to enter into a contract with the power provider, Phoebus Fund LLC. The company projects the town will save $325,000 a year, or more than $6 million over two decades, compared to current costs of electricity for municipal use.
It also helps New Jersey reach clean-energy goals established by Gov. Phil Murphy and the state Board of Public Utilities, Phoebus representative Andrew Kennedy told council Tuesday.
“And most importantly this is going to produce local and high-paying New Jersey jobs, it’s going to be protecting New Jersey prime soils,” he said.
Phoebus Fund proposes to build the installation in Lopatcong Township, Kennedy said. During a presentation to council last February, he said the project is proposed to be built along the 1700 block of Belvidere Road in the township. Lopatcong Clerk Beth Dilts last week said land development plans had yet to be filed for the proposal.
Phillipsburg’s contract takes effect only if Phoebus Fund is successful in building the solar installation, Kennedy said. The cost to the town is fixed at 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 9.71 cents the town is paying now, according to Kennedy.
A utility bill analysis attached to the power purchase agreement puts the town’s total kilowatt-hour consumption at 5.85 million, and says the system is designed to produce about 5 million watts. The town agrees to purchase “the entire amount of power to be generated from Phoebus’s solar facility located in Lopatcong Township,” according to the contract, which may be extended for 100 years beyond the initial 20-year term.
Remote meters will measure the power generated by the facility, which Phoebus is solely responsible to operate and maintain, according to the contract. The town only pays for the power it receives, rather than facing fixed payments.
“If the Power Facility is unable to supply sufficient power to the Town, the Town may purchase additional power from other sources,” the agreement states.
Under language pushed by Mayor Todd Tersigni, the contract can be voided if electricity costs dip below the specified fixed rate, said town Business Administrator Rob Bengivenga.
The way Phoebus Fund’s patent-pending system works, the panels are built 15 to 17 feet above the ground so that it can continue to be farmed, Kennedy said. The farmer does lose 10% to 15% of land to the installation, but the rest can continue to be actively farmed. The number of solar panels proposed for use is 11,404, projected to create 15 installer jobs and 55 long-term positions.
Councilman Pete Marino called the contract a “win-win.”
“This is one of the things we’ll be seeing in the future,” he said. “It’s really a good project.”
Councilman Lee Clark said by agreeing to the contract, Phillipsburg is doing its part to contribute toward Murphy’s Energy Master Plan, which commits to 100% clean energy statewide by 2050. It also protects farmland continually threatened by development, such as “warehouse sprawl,” he said.
By the numbers
Phoebus Fund LLC, based in Williamstown, Gloucester County, says its Lopatcong Township agrivoltaics system set up to supply Phillipsburg with solar power will equate over 20 years to:
- 134,404 trees planted.
- 25 farmland acres protect.
- 3,763 tons of carbon dioxide offset.
- 2,281 cars removed from the roads.
- 502 fewer households using electricity from non-renewable sources.
- $1,083 savings per Phillipsburg household.
- $434 savings per resident.
