Last week, Rutgers University announced that it plans to install an 8-megawatt photovoltaic array, comprising 40,000 panels, for 3,500 parking spots at its Livingston, N.J., campus. Making it one of the largest such installations in the country. In all, the array will cover 32 acres of the university’s parking lots.

The school’s board of governors approved the project week, allowing Rutgers to move forward with the process.

“We are in the process of issuing the RFPs [ie.e, requests for proposals]. They will be out by late next week, one for the financing component and one for the EPC [i.e., engineering, procurement and construction],” said Antonio Calcado, Rutgers’ vice president for Facilities and Capital Planning. Interested parties can apply for both contacts, he said.

It’s not the school’s, nor even the campus’s first foray into solar, Calcado said. The campus already has a 1.4-megawatt solar facility. When this project is completed it will have 9.4 megawatts of its electricity generated onsite by solar.

Since Rutgers is a nonprofit entity, it can’t benefit from the tax breaks and other incentives. Therefore, it intends to use a 15-year power-purchase agreement to cover the costs of the $40.8 million system.

“By partnering with a for-profit company, we can take advantage of those incentives. We’ll end up putting up no upfront money, and over the course of the term, our repayment is cost of the unit,” Calcado said. “We’ve already seen a lot of interest from large financial houses; these type of programs really benefit them.”

Rutgers plans to purchase the array at the end of the lease for $3.6 million. In all, the array is projected to save Rutgers $28 million in electric costs over a 20-year period, the school said.

Beyond supplying 60 percent of the campus’ energy needs, the school will also be able to take advantage of the New Jersey Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) program, according to Calcado.

Under that program, the school can sell the credits for power produced by the system to other entities that are required to purchase them.

The school will move quickly to build the system, according to Calcado.

“We would like to begin the project at the beginning of summer, the end of May or beginning of June,” he said. “It will take some time; the parking is still being used.”

Image courtesy of Rutgers Facilities & Capital Planning.