new Jersey residents have yet to get the bill but we're already living with the new pricing model that'll spike our energy costs at the end of the month cherry Hill is considering a community solar project that'll pump more energy into the grid and drive down costs especially for lowincome residents and while they prepare to vote on that tomorrow Governor Murphy visited an existing solar project in Perth Amboy to see the impact it's having ted Goldberg was there this warehouse in Perth Amboy has been covered in solar panels for more than four years the solar is going to last for 20 25 years which is basically in tandem with how long you expect the roof to last 6 weeks ago the Board of Public Utilities approved expanding the community solar program to the tune of 250 additional megawatts which could provide solar power to a few hundred,000 households statewide this system feeds clean energy directly into the grid and has the capacity to serve roughly 400 uh 400 homes within the community there's a mandate that most of those are low and moderate income so at a time when there's an energy crisis happening we're saving money for those who are most impacted um by the energy burden perth Amboy Mayor Helman Cabba says this project managed by Solar Landscape has been a boon for his residents 469 households in our city are seeing the benefits on average they're saving more than $230 a year on their energy bills that's real help for families that really need it the model that solar landscape uh provides is no is so important because it meets our goal by delivering clean energy um to residents and all while creating additional economic opportunities for the communities which projects are located governor Phil Murphy stopped by the warehouse today we should be doing these morning noon and night up and down New Jersey because nimiism is a real thing whether we like it or not and there's zero elements of that we have the built environment there's no NIMI issues we're quick to interconnect because there's existing infrastructure and we're the speed to market so within 12 months you can have projects operational and creating power for local communities nobody's saying not in my backyard to solar panels on rooftops and Murphy says renting out roofs for solar panels is good energy policy and good for the economy this will directly lower energy costs for our neighbors secondly as we mentioned they're incredibly easy to build in fact you can bring them online faster than any other source of energy and they create good paying overwhelmingly union jobs the solar panels can either power the warehouse they sit on feed the grid or do both all useful options as New Jersey looks for ways to generate more electricity as rates could jump this summer their energy rates are going to go up because we have more uh demand than we do supply now that's a good thing in many ways is because our economy is growing with with the governor's leadership we're making sure that New Jerseys continue to be a place where people want to come and build build their businesses and develop and live there's not enough generation on the grid these rooftops are a perfect place to put solar panels and um was kind of recognized first here in New Jersey and has become a model across the country new Jersey has emerged as one of the largest producers of solar energy in the entire Northeast just last year for the first time ever we crossed 5 gawatts of installed solar capacity that's enough to power 750,000 homes there are 24 active locations right now with 101 under construction or in the works the next one could come to Cherry Hill when their zoning board votes on it tomorrow night in Perth Amboy i'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music]