New Jersey is now home to what a company says is the largest floating solar array in North America—a 17-acre mosaic of solar panels atop the Canoe Brook reservoir in the city of Short Hills.

The array, made up of 16,510 solar panels, has the capacity to generate 8.9 megawatts (MW), enough to power 1,400 homes annually, according to owner and operator NJR Clean Energy Ventures (CEV), the renewable energy subsidiary of New Jersey Resources, or NJR. The array in this case will provide approximately 95% of the power needs for New Jersey American Water’s Canoe Brook Water Treatment Plant.

NJR says such projects offer a novel approach to developing solar power while finding a suitable location to accommodate large-scale installations. By building the installations on manmade lakes and reservoirs, the panels aren’t affected by tides and saltwater and don’t take up space in densely populated areas like New Jersey.

“Floating solar technology creates new opportunities for underutilized bodies of water, allowing space that would otherwise sit vacant to enable large-scale renewable energy generation, which helps to bring the benefits of clean energy to even more customers,” said Robert Pohlman, vice president of CEV.

The Canoe Brook solar facility, placed into full commercial operation in January 2023, produces power equal to removing 8,121 metric tons of greenhouse-gas emissions from the atmosphere compared to traditional power sources, the company said. The floating panels can also help reduce evaporation, which protects the water source and benefits the environment.

Canoe Brook is the second floating solar project in CEV’s portfolio. The first, a 4.4 MW array located in Sayreville, New Jersey, was placed into commercial operation in 2020.

Since 2009, CEV has invested more than $1 billion in commercial and residential solar projects. The company maintains 65 commercial solar assets across four states and a portfolio of more than 440 MW of installed capacity.

Mark McDonough, president of New Jersey American Water, said the project provides a meaningful way to reduce traditional energy use and provide benefits to the environment with limited expenditures and reduced power costs.

 “As the state’s largest water and wastewater utility company, it is essential for us to be good stewards of the environment by operating efficiently and in a manner that helps protect our natural resources,” McDonough said.

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