Large Solar Project Gets Green Light, Again

After receiving no bids for a large three-megawatt solar project at the Pill Hill landfill, Bernards is back at square one for the town's largest clean energy project.

The Township Committee authorized Township Administrator Bruce McArthur on Tuesday to issue revised bid specifications to attract interested partners.

The project would be four-times the size of the recently approved solar project at the Bernards Sewerage Authority treatment facility, and save enough carbon dioxide emissions to be the equivalent of planting over 127,000 trees, according to a report filed by Metro Energy Solutions in the fall of 2009 at the township's request. Unlike the Sewerage Authority project, the township would not keep the energy produced by the solar field, but rather lease the land to a company that would sell the energy onto the New Jersey power grid.

A large upfront payment of $100,000 likely caused hesitation in taking on the project for companies who picked up the first round of bid specifications, according to McArthur. The specifications were downloaded from the township Web site or picked up in person 45 times, according to McArthur, but no companies ended up filing by the June 8 deadline.

The Township Administrator said he followed up with those who were initially interested, hearing back from two, both saying that the upfront payment combined with a rigid deadline schedule made the project too risky. McArthur said, energy companies must negotiate a number of approvals from state regulatory agencies before moving forward with a project like the one at the landfill, making a large initial investment difficult.

McArthur asked the Township Committee to restructure the specifications to include an upfront payment that would cover the township's legal expenses, and the rest of the payments would be tied completing project milestones in a given time frame.

"I would agree with Bruce (McArthur); I think it's a good idea," Deputy Mayor John Malay said. "If I were a bidder, I would not want to put myself in a situation where I'd have to front $100,000 and then rely on the mercy of the state bureaucracy."

The Township Committee agreed to give the Township Administrator the authorization to release new bid specifications for the project in the next few days, likely hearing back from interested suitors later in the summer.