System is the Largest Solar Facility for a Hospital in New Jersey
KDC Solar LLC has commenced commercial operations of its 6.31-megawatt (MW) solar panel system located at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, New Jersey. The system will provide electricity to CentraState's Medical Center which serves over 14,000 inpatients and over 250,000 outpatient visits a year.
The solar panel project is the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar system supplying solar energy to any hospital in the state of New Jersey. The project is also one of the largest solar distributed generation facility for a non-utility company providing electricity to any hospital on the east coast of the United States.
The new system will generate approximately 8.1 million kilowatt hours of solar electricity per year. It will provide CentraState with some of its annual electricity needs from clean, renewable solar energy and substantially help reduce its carbon footprint. This is the equivalent of approximately 768 homes being supplied with all their electricity for a year. KDC Solar developed, owns and will operate the solar panel system.
A ribbon cutting ceremony marking the commencement of commercial operations was held at the solar project site on December 17. Among the dignitaries in attendance were BPU Commissioner Upendra Chivukula, Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo, Chairman of the New Jersey State Assembly Telecommunications and Utility Committee, Monmouth County Freeholder John Curley and Freehold Township Committeewoman Barbara McMorrow as well as a representative from Senator Jen Beck's office.
"CentraState is proud to have the largest solar facility of any hospital in New Jersey and receive the energy production from this on-site system," said John Gribbin, president/CEO of CentraState Healthcare System. "Having a clean renewable energy solution evidences our commitment not only to the delivery of world class medical treatment but also to our environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as our electric costs. We are pleased to have collaborated with KDC Solar to establish this important long term resource."
"We are delighted to have worked with CentraState to bring this concept to reality. This system is the largest PV solar facility at any hospital in the state of New Jersey and will supply clean, lower cost, long-term solar energy to CentraState for years to come," said Hal Kamine, KDC Solar's Chief Executive Officer. "This project is another example of a successful "net-metered" clean solar electric system for business, government and institutions, which in turn create or preserve both short and long-term jobs for the state."
KDC Solar signed an engineering and construction contract for the installation of the solar project with Torcon Industries. Torcon, a Red Bank, New Jersey based general construction contracting company with almost 50 years of experience, was the prime contractor for this project and SPI Solar, a California-based contracting company provided construction oversight for KDC Solar. The solar panel system uses 21,408 PV panels, 3 Eaton Power Xpert 1500 kilowatt (kW) inverters, 1 Advanced Energy Industries 500 kilowatt (kW) inverters and is ground-mounted across 26.2 acres of land leased by CentraState to a subsidiary of KDC Solar.
