CNBNews

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, 4th District Legislators, and Mayor David Mayer attend the groundbreaking of Gloucester Township GEMS Solar Park

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ October 27, 2021, 1:30 PM– In partnership with Syncarpha Capital and the Township’s Energy Consultant, Blue Sky Power, Gloucester Township will break ground on the 4.5 MW DC GEMS (the Gloucester Environmental Management Services) Solar Park located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Hickstown Road and New Brooklyn Erial Road.

The Solar Park is estimated to produce 6,086,000 kWh of clean zero emissions power per year and yield approximately $1,000,000 in lease revenue to the Township over 25 years. Construction will start on November 19th and is expected to be finished in Spring 2022.

“We are extremely excited to break ground on the GEMS Solar Park this November. This joint project with Syncarpha Capital will bring about 4.5 MW of clean sustainable energy produced in Gloucester Township. I’m thrilled to see what had been one-of-the-worst-polluted superfund sites in the country in the 1980s becoming the shining beacon of renewable energy source in our town!” said Mayor David R. Mayer.

“Transforming one of the nations most polluted landfills into a clean energy producing solar park has been Mayor Dave Mayer’s mission for the last nine years. With his leadership and that of the Gloucester Township council, this project and the many solar projects on municipal and school district property across town have cemented Gloucester Township’s place as one the most sustainable communities in the United States, “said Ben Parvey, CEO of Blue Sky Power.

"We are very excited to see this GEMS project finally ready to begin construction. Our partnership with Gloucester Township dates back to 2016 when we were selected as the redeveloper of this former Superfund site. We have worked together tirelessly since then to complete all necessary state, local and environmental permitting as well as the process of interconnecting through Atlantic City Electric to the wholesale electric grid. When construction wraps up in Spring 2022, this 4.5MW solar facility built on a capped Superfund site will turn this environmentally sensitive unproductive real estate into a solar facility producing clean energy for the residents of NJ and income for the Township," said Cliff Chapman, Managing Partner of Syncarpha Capital.

The GEMS solar project involves the placement of an approximately 25-acre, non-penetrating solar photovoltaic generation system on top of the existing landfill cap. The equipment to construct the system is composed of photovoltaic solar modules, solar inverters, a steel and aluminum racking system, non-penetrating ballast blocks, transformers and associated wiring/conduits.

In order to have a productive renewable use for the nation’s first Superfund site, Gloucester Township created the Superfund Redevelopment Area at GEMS landfill 2014.

Under a 1985 Consent Decree, the Landfill is undergoing long term remediation, including the operation of a groundwater extraction and pretreatment system, maintenance of the Landfill capping system and the gas extraction and treatment system, and various monitoring programs.

Once completed in the Spring of 2022, the clean energy produced at the GEMS Solar Park will annually offset 4,313 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide, which is the equivalent of emissions from 10,839,527 miles driven by a typical passenger vehicle, or 4,767,134 pounds of coal burned, which is also the amount of carbon sequestered by 5,284 acres of U.S. Forest in one year.

WEDNESDAY, October 27, 2021, 1:30 PM 800 HICKSTOWN ROAD GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ
(to be held inside due to weather)

For more information about the event, please call 856-374-3515 or [email protected] ###