Monroe Township planning board reviews 3.5 MW school solar plan; no vote taken

Monroe Township — The Monroe Township Planning Board reviewed a proposed solar energy project for the Monroe Township School District on May 22, 2025, covering rooftop, ground-mounted and parking-canopy arrays at seven district properties; the board took no formal action because the presentation was offered as a courtesy review.

The project team said the largest element would be a canopy installation at Monroe Township High School that, as shown in the submitted plans, would be roughly 3.5 megawatts on the campus; other work includes a 0.7-megawatt ground array at Applegarth Elementary, a ground array under 0.2 megawatts at Oaktree Elementary, and rooftop systems at Monroe Township Middle School, Barclay Brook Elementary, Woodland Elementary and the district administration and transportation building.

The presentation was given by Rob Simon of Harold Law on behalf of the district and HESP Solar, with civil engineering testimony from Robert Moschello and operations testimony from Susan Brodie of HESP Solar. Moschello described the high-school canopy as “a little larger than your typical solar canopies” and said the parking canopies will vary between 22 and 28 feet in height to provide a 14-foot clear span beneath the panels for emergency access. “We're looking at basically, on this layout here, it's almost a 3…