New Jersey Self Storage Facility Goes Green with Solar Energy

Access Self Storage announced yesterday that it will install solar electric systems at its self storage facilities in Bernardsville, Clark, Franklin Lakes, Kenilworth, Oakland, and Woodbridge, New Jersey. Each facility will receive solar panels that can convert energy from the sun into electricity (photovoltaic panels). (Access Self Storage also has facilities in New York.) Access will begin installing the new solar power systems this summer, and expects them to be ready for use by the end of 2010.

Together, the electric systems powered by solar energy at the Access locations in New Jersey will use 4,500 solar energy panels. The Access Self Storage solar panels could generate more than one million kilowatts of electricity every year, which will offset much of each facility’s own demand for electricity.

The solar panels will be designed and installed by the Viron Consulting Group, and will be manufactured by SolarWorld.

Access Self Storage estimates that the solar panels will pay for themselves within two or three years, once the company factors in the incentives offered by the state of New Jersey to businesses which generate solar power and the 30 percent rebate offered by the federal government to companies that use solar power.

“By installing solar panels we’re making a financial commitment that’s good for the environment and makes fiscal sense,” explained Access president James Greco in an article in yesterday’s Inside Self-Storage. “These systems will help with the fight against global warming and reduce our dependency on foreign oil.”

Principal Thomas Voss of Viron, commenting in the same Inside Self-Storage article, argued that now is the best possible time for businesses to install solar panels.

“When you combine New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Rebate Program and Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) system with the 30 percent grant available from the U.S. Treasury, now is the best time to install solar electric in New Jersey,” Voss said. “People don’t realize New Jersey is second only to California when it comes to the capacity of grid-tied solar electric installations in the United States.”

Sources used:

Access Self Storage.

“Access Self Storage installs solar energy at six New Jersey locations.” Inside Self-Storage. June 15, 2010.

Gruen, Abby. “Access Self Storage to install solar on six new NJ properties.” The Star-Ledger. June 15, 2010.