New Jersey’s State Senate has passed the Clean Energy Equity Act, a Bill which could bring hundreds of megawatts of solar to low-income families in the state.
The Bill passed the committee stage on Friday 13 November and passed the full senate yesterday (16 November). It will now need to proceed through the assembly before landing on NJ state governor Phil Murphy’s desk for approval.
The Bill seeks to stimulate the deployment of onsite or community solar programs to help low-income households that would otherwise not be able to afford solar use the technology to reduce their energy bills. Furthermore, it intends to deploy up to 400MW of energy storage in low-income communities over the next decade.
Should it be approved, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities will be tasked with allocating 10% of its annual clean energy budget to support the initiatives.
Its senate approval was strongly welcomed by the Solar Energy Industries Alliance (SEIA), whose senior director of Northeast state affairs David Gahl said: “For too long lower income communities and communities of colour haven’t fully experienced the benefits of clean, affordable electricity in New Jersey… A significantly expanded community solar programme, contemplated by the bill, will be a critical tool for providing clean energy access throughout New Jersey.”
