Gloucester City Now Home To Largest Rooftop Solar Power Plant In North America
By David Madden
GLOUCESTER CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- The largest rooftop solar power plant in North America now sits atop two refrigeration buildings along the Delaware River in Gloucester City, New Jersey, in the shadow of the Walt Whitman Bridge.
It's 1.1 million square feet. More than 27-thousand solar panels set up to generate nine megawatts of electricity, enough to power over 15-hundred homes.
The owners of the Gloucester Marine Terminal put up the capital for the $42-million project and got $11-million back in tax credits from the federal government through Congressman Rob Andrews.
"I see solar panels, but I also see fewer American dollars going to Saudi Arabia," said Andrews. "Because every kilowatt hour we generate here is money we're not sending to countries in the Middle East who are not always our friends."
Terminal managers expect to save a million dollars a year, since the panels will provide 80-percent of their power needs.
