Princeton University is planning to install a solar collector field on a 27-acre piece of farmland off Washington Road within West Windsor borders, the university announced this month.
According to information released by the university, the 5.3-megawatt solar collector field will consist of 16,500 photovoltaic panels and is expected to be one of the largest single installations at a U.S. college or university.
The project site is located on land adjacent to Princeton’s main campus between the Dinky train line, the Delaware & Raritan Canal, Washington Road, and Route 1. A row of trees along Washington Road will block most of the site from view.
Construction could begin as early as this summer and be completed by summer 2012, depending on approvals from local and state authorities, officials said. The collector field should generate 8 million kilowatt-hours per year — enough to power the equivalent of 700 homes, or enough to meet 5.5 percent of the total annual Princeton campus electrical needs, the press release stated.
Councilman George Borek asked about the assessment on the property where the future panels would be located. “Is a solar farm still considered a farm?” Borek asked Township Attorney Michael Herbert.
Borek asked whether the solar field would change the assessment of the property, and whether that would mean the township would receive more taxes. Herbert said he did not believe the assessment would change.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said Princeton University will not have to go through the township’s Planning or Zoning boards for approval. Rather, there would be engineering permits and other approvals the university would have to obtain.
Exxon Station To Be Demolished? According to published reports, the university is also considering demolishing the abandoned Exxon gas station on Washington Road and Route 1, at the entrance to West Windsor. The university owns the land where the Exxon was operating under a monthly lease until it expired in 2009. The Daily Princetonian reported that the university is planning to apply for a permit to demolish the structures at the former Exxon site by the end of the winter. It plans to plant grass in the area.
