CEP Renewables, NJR Clean Energy Ventures and CS Energy have completed the 19-MWDC Foul Rift solar project located in White Township of Warren County, New Jersey. The project was built on a brownfield, a substantially environmentally impaired site, that had been the home to a composting facility for nearly 30 years.
The 19-MW Foul Rift solar project in Warren County, New Jersey. CEP Renewables
“This project demonstrates both New Jersey’s strong policy support for brownfield and landfill solar projects, as well as the power of developing a grid supply solar farm to remediate environmental damages that would not have otherwise been addressed,” said Chris Ichter, executive VP at CEP. “We were able to draw upon our prior experience on similarly challenging brownfield and landfill solar projects to develop an effective public-private partnership with White Township that will positively impact generations to come.”
Prior to its closure, the facility had an extensive history of environmental violations from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). When CEP initially encountered this property, it had been contaminated by the activities of the composting facility. An environmental investigation indicated that the soils were contaminated with metals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and arsenic, that required the use of an institutional control.
The investigation uncovered a total of 92 distinct notices of environmental violations from NJDEP. To bring the site into compliance with regulations, CEP cleared the remaining compost berm and waste materials and negotiated a pre-purchase administrative consent order with NJDEP to effectively resolve the remaining violations and terminate the solid waste permit. CEP remediated environmental damage at the site while also providing reliable clean energy, pollinator habitats and greater tax revenue for the local community.
Similar to CEP’s Mount Olive and BEMS landfill solar projects, the Foul Rift project was also acquired through the redevelopment and tax lien foreclosure process, a method that was unprecedented prior to the Mount Olive project. CEP addressed the site’s millions of dollars in tax liens accrued by forming a public-private partnership with the White Township that involved CEP acquiring the tax liens from the township, paying back all past-due taxes and foreclosing on the property. CEP is now the owner of the site, and the White Township has been able to recoup roughly three decades of interest and back taxes.
Not only has the Foul Rift project turned an environmentally hazardous site into a revenue generating asset, it has also contributed to New Jersey maintaining its ranking as the U.S. state with the most installed solar capacity per-square-mile.
News item from CEP Renewables