Gov. Markell Helps Dedicate PSEG Milford Solar Farm

MILFORD, Del., April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delaware Governor Jack Markell today joined with PSEG Solar Source, Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC), juwi solar, Inc. (JSI) and Sunolar Power (Sunolar) to dedicate the PSEG Milford Solar Farm. The 15-megawatt facility, located in Milford, Del., is the state's largest solar farm.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120830/MM62627LOGO )

The 80-acre PSEG Milford Solar farm uses approximately 62,000 crystalline-silicon solar panels to generate enough solar energy to power approximately 9,000 homes when the sun is shining. Its pollution-free energy displaces approximately 12,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – the equivalent of removing about 2,300 cars from the road.

"The Milford Solar Farm helps point the way forward toward a sustainable future for all," said Randall Mehrberg, president-PSEG Energy Holdings and executive vice president, strategy and development.  "This isn't just any facility, but one that is important to an emerging green economy. Projects like this testify to the strong partnerships that have made solar energy a growing part of America's energy mix, to the benefit of our nation's energy security, economy and the environment.

Gov. Markell called the solar farm a glimpse into Delaware's future.

"The Milford Solar Farm is a great fit with Delaware's commitment to a future of clean, renewable energy sources," Gov. Markell said. "The project's far-reaching benefits began with the construction jobs it brought to the Milford area and will continue with many years of power production and economic benefits for the central part of our state."

Collin O'Mara, Delaware's Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said that the project reflects Delaware's growing national leadership in deploying a cleaner mix of energy sources.

"Now more than ever, it is critical that we adopt cleaner, cheaper and more secure local electrical generation that increases our competitiveness, reduces air pollution, improves public health, and creates jobs," said Secretary O'Mara. "Through this important Milford project, DEMEC, PSEG, and JSI are helping to lead Delaware toward a clean energy future and demonstrating that we can have both a strong economy and a healthy environment."

DEMEC will purchase the electricity generated by the solar farm through a 20-year power purchase agreement.

"This project again demonstrates that DEMEC and its municipal utility members are leaders in the deployment of solar generation resources in Delaware," said DEMEC President and CEO Patrick E. McCullar. "Of the 43.8 megawatts of installed or committed solar generation resources in Delaware, a clear majority (26.5 megawatts, or 61 percent of the total) is installed in DEMEC municipal service territories. This becomes an even more striking statistic when you consider that DEMEC municipal service territories make up less than 15 percent of electric service in the entire state. DEMEC is committed to the continued deployment of economic renewable energy projects for the benefit of our communities."

JSI acquired the partially-developed project from Sunolar in mid-2012, after which JSI, Sunolar, PSEG and the City of Milford worked together to get the project ready for construction. JSI served as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor and will manage the day-to-day operation of the plant. The $50 million project occupies 80 acres in Kent County. The construction of Milford Solar created approximately 100 jobs.

"The Milford Solar project is the fifth solar PV project we have built in the United States that has a nameplate capacity of more than 10 megawatts," said Michael Martin, CEO of juwi solar, Inc. "Our site team worked tirelessly to build this project over a 90-day timeframe – including by celebrating Thanksgiving onsite and enduring the effects of Superstorm Sandy – in order to safely achieve commercial operation before the end of the year 2012." 

PSEG Solar Source owns four additional solar projects, all of which were built by JSI. A sixth solar project, the 19MW PSEG Badger 1 Solar Farm is currently under construction near Phoenix, Arizona.

The others are:

• The PSEG Queen Creek Solar Farm – a 25.0 MW DC solar farm in Queen Creek, Arizona.
• The PSEG Wyandot Solar Farm - a 12.0 MW DC solar farm in Wyandot, Ohio. At completion it was the largest solar farm in Ohio.
• PSEG Jacksonville Solar Farm - a 15.0 MW DC solar farm on 100 acres in Jacksonville, Florida; at completion it was the second largest solar farm in Florida.
• The PSEG Mars Solar Garden - a 2.2 MW DC facility located adjacent to Mars Snackfood's U.S. headquarters in New Jersey.

About PSEG:
PSEG Solar Source is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of more than $11 billion. Other subsidiaries include Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), a regulated NJ gas and electric utility and PSEG Power, a merchant power generation company. PSEG has a total of 137 MWs of solar power in operation. PSEG Solar Source owns 67.2 MW of solar power with another 19.3 in construction. PSE&G is also active in solar energy.  It currently owns 75 MW of solar in New Jersey through its Solar 4 All™ program, consisting of 24 solar installations and more than 170,000 pole-attached solar units. For more information, visit www.pseg.com.

Disclaimer: PSEG Solar Source LLC is not the same company as PSE&G, the New Jersey based electric and gas utility.  PSEG Solar Source is not regulated by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. 

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About DEMEC Inc.
The Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation, Inc. is a public power joint action agency and wholesale electric utility established in 1979 to provide power supply and related services to the nine municipally-owned distribution utilities in the state of Delaware through owned generation assets and power purchased from other generators in the PJM region. DEMEC manages a diversified power supply portfolio including natural gas fired generation, wind and solar assets. DEMEC has a long-term goal of developing innovative and economic utility-scale, renewable energy generation projects. In addition to  the Milford Solar Project, DEMEC's renewable portfolio includes the Dover SUN Park Project, a 10 megawatt PV solar generation facility located in Dover, Delaware, and the 69 MW Laurel Hill Wind Farm.  For additional information, visit DEMEC's web site at www.demecinc.net.

About juwi solar Inc.:
juwi solar Inc. (JSI) is a privately held solar energy generation company based in Boulder, Colorado.  JSI's primary business is the development, design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of utility-scale (1 MW and larger) solar energy generation facilities in North America. To date, JSI has successfully built large-scale solar projects in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. JSI is majority-owned by juwi AG of Germany. With more than 600 employees worldwide, juwi's solar group has built more than 1,500 solar photovoltaic installations globally, totaling more than 1 GW of operating capacity.  

SOURCE PSEG Solar Source