When one hears the words ‘New Jersey’, many people do not immediately think of environmental leadership. In fact, the state’s reputation gives rise to visions better described by ‘industrial wasteland’ or ‘toxic miasma’.

Think again. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) has recently proposed a major expansion of the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The rule would require that 20% of the electricity that the state’s utilities provide to their customers come from new renewable energy sources by 2020, up from the current standard of 4% by 2008. This is a major expansion that puts the state in the upper echelon of renewable energy leaders.

Most importantly for solar fans, the proposed rule would require that 2% come from solar electric resources—a development that would result in about 1,500 MW of solar electricity. That's a lot of solar. To put this in perspective, in 2004 the world market for solar photovoltaics was 927 MW. New Jersey’s effort would be the most ambitious solar program currently on the books in the US (CA's 3,000 MW effort is not yet official--and nothing wrong with some inter-state competition, is there?), and would go far in building the economies of scale necessary to bring solar into the mainstream.