The most remarkable thing about the 3.2-megawatt solar project in Morris County, New Jersey is not the solar financing offered through the recently formed (2002) Morris County Improvement Authority (MCIA) via low-interest bonds (guaranteed by the county), nor is it the 19 schools, local government buildings and recreational facilities that will benefit by having solar installed at their locations.

It may not even be the fact that the Morris County Improvement Authority, which received the evaluation report for the 19 locations in December of 2009, approved the lot at a price tag of $22.3 million.

Nor is it surprising that the next round of improvements will be in a similar vein (that is, largely solar photovoltaic), and aimed at a similar set of venues (a mix of large and small buildings, schools and offices), or even that the project will have about the same cost, $22.3 million.

What is remarkable is that, while the installer of record will continue to own the solar arrays, and maintain them, the buildings that use the electricity generated from the solar arrays will pay a mere 10.6 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity in the first year, which is well below the market rate of 15 cents for the area from First Energy and its regional subsidiary, New Jersey Power & Light.

Equally as important, the 3.2 megawatts of clean solar power will prevent the production of about 5.6 million pounds from First Energy’s generation mix, which is 56 percent coal. This is the same as removing 629 cars from the road or planting 636 acres of trees.

For the schools on the list, the rate represents a 35-percent savings in energy costs, or about $2.3 million over the next 15 years, according to freeholder liaison Bill Chegwidden, who was responsible for bringing together lenders and borrowers.

But the real kicker is the fact that the program has become an instant paradigm for public/private solar installation financing, under the name “the Morris Model”, according to Paul Detering, CEO of Tioga Energy.

Under the Morris Model, quasi-governmental entities (like the MCIA, created in this instance by county commissioners, also called “freeholders”) borrow at low interest to jumpstart improvement projects, hire installers and project managers to ‘vet’ the project, arrange a sort of power purchase agreement, or PPA, that allows project managers to pay the county back out of electricity revenues, and pay themselves through the sale of renewable energy credits, stimulus credits and advanced depreciation credits.

The 19 projects will be designed and installed by Plainfield-based SunDurance Energy Inc., with San Mateo, California-based Tioga Energy acting as project facilitator. The work is expected to begin this spring, with about 50 to 60 SunDurance workers inspecting roofs immediately prior to the solar panel installations.

The advantage of Improvement Authorities is their independent status, which allows them to finance even the largest infrastructure improvements at low interest rates in counties whose bond rating is at least triple A (according to such major ratings agencies as Moody’s, Standard & Poor, and Fitch).

The list of 19 solar projects on this current round of MCIA financing include:

• Boonton High School
• John Hill School
• School Street School
• Morris Hills High School
• Morris Knolls High School
• Mountain Lakes High School
• Wildwood School
• Brooklawn Middle School
• Central Middle School
• Littleton Elementary School
• Troy Hills Elementary School
• West Morris Central High School
• West Morris Mendham High School
• Mennen Ice Rink #1, 2 and 3
• Schuyler Building