The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) voted to approve a total of 16 projects with a combined capacity of 52.06 megawatts in the first round of bidding for its "dual-purpose pilot agrivoltaic" program.

"This pilot dual-purpose project will enable us to support farmers in New Jersey in enhancing the profitability of their operations while increasing grid capacity," said Ben Hertz-Shargel, Chairman of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. "It ensures that farmland continues to be used for active agricultural or horticultural production while enhancing the value of existing farming practices. Combined with providing new clean power supplies to the grid, this is undoubtedly a win-win for the 'Garden State.'"

Agrivoltaics or dual-purpose solar involves installing photovoltaic panels over or within agricultural operations such as crops, pastures, or other farmland, rather than completely removing the land from production. These 16 pilot projects, located on farms in Atlantic, Cumberland, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Mercer, Monmouth, Salem, and Warren counties, integrate solar power generation with crops like soybeans, hay, grains, vegetables, and fruits, as well as livestock production.

The project was established under the 2021 Dual-Use Solar Act and is jointly implemented by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the State Agricultural Development Committee, and the Agricultural Photovoltaic Project at Rutgers University.

"When we passed the Dual-Use Solar Act, this is exactly the progress we hoped to see: farmers in New Jersey producing both food and clean energy on the same land," said Senator Bob Smith. "These 16 projects demonstrate that we don’t have to choose between keeping farmland in active production and building the power-generating capacity our state needs—we can have both. Farmers have always been stewards of the land, and now they can not only help power New Jersey’s clean energy future but also enhance their own profitability."

The pilot project can support an installed capacity of up to 200 megawatts within three years, with individual projects typically capped at a maximum scale of 10 megawatts. The project must be located on unprotected farmland already in active agricultural or horticultural use, and eligible teams must include landowners, farmers, and solar operators, with farmers required to actively participate in project planning and operations.

The project garnered strong early interest: the first call for proposals from NJBPU received 33 preliminary submissions, totaling approximately 140 megawatts. The lessons learned from the comprehensive pilot projects will provide guidance for establishing permanent agrivoltaic projects in New Jersey.