Solar energy could supply as much as 20 percent of the power to the Belmar development in Lakewood, thanks to an allocation of about $200 million in tax- exempt bonds.
The development is one of four projects nationwide to qualify for up to $2 billion in “green bonds” under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, Belmar’s developer announced Tuesday.
The next building to be constructed at Belmar will have a photovoltaic – also called PV or solar – system that will supply at least part of its power, said Mark Falcone, head of the development firm Continuum Partners. Construction on the $60 million building, which includes a mix of office space and apartments, is to start this summer.
Falcone credits U.S. Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar and Rep. Bob Beauprez for supporting the bond program. Before being attached to the jobs act, the bonds were part of the energy bill that failed that same year.
“The original legislation was more weighted toward conservation,” Falcone said. “It morphed to focus on renewables.”
Lakewood Mayor Steve Burk holder said that over time, projects such as Belmar will help drive the cost of using renewable energy down as the technology becomes more widely available.
“You’ll see construction techniques and the use of energy that you might not have seen for 15 years,” Burkholder said.
Other projects that qualified for the bonds are Atlantic Station in Atlanta; Destiny USA in Syracuse, N.Y.; and the Georgetown Land Development Co.’s redevelopment of the old Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill site in Georgetown, Conn.
The legislation requires that in aggregate the four projects must:
Reduce electric consumption by more than 150 megawatts annually compared with conventional construction.
Reduce daily sulfur-dioxide emission by at least 10 tons compared with coal-generation power.
Expand by 75 percent the domestic solar photovoltaic market in the U.S. compared with the expansion of the market from 2001 to 2002.
Use at least 25 megawatts of fuel-cell energy generation.
