Public Service Enterprise Reveals Latest NJ Solar Project

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.’s (NYSE:PEG) subsidiary — Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) — recently announced that the last project of Solar 4 All program has commenced operations. It will be used as backup during extended power outage in Department of Public Works (DPW) building located in Pennington Borough, NJ.

Other three solar storage projects of Solar 4 All have already commenced services at Hopewell Valley Central High School, Cooper University Hospital and Caldwell Wastewater Treatment Facility in New Jersey. The Solar 4 All is a 158 megawatt-dc solar program, which is used to develop solar integrated projects to increase reliability of grid resiliency for unplanned prolonged outage.

How This Storage System Works?

The Pennington DPW solar storage system consists of 1,188-panels, 404-kilowatt-dc solar system with 200 megawatt-hour Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Energy lithium-ion batteries for storage. The project can provide power to 65 homes annually directly though grid. During day times, it recharges the batteries along with providing electricity to the building. At night, those batteries are used for supplying power. This way the system ensures emergency power service when required.

Prospects in Solar Industry

Per a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), solar electricity generation in the nation was 211 gigawatt-hour/day (GWh/d), which is likely to increase to 246 GWh/d in 2018. In spite of the rapid uptake, solar contributed just 1.3% of the total U.S. utility-scale generation in 2017, indicating immense scope for growth in the solar market.

Realizing the fact that alternative energy will gain traction in the future, many utility providers have recently shifted their focus toward renewables as their preferred source of energy. Being no exception, Public Service Enterprise is also expanding its renewable assets apart from focusing on transmission and distribution infrastructure.

With solar energy being a key area in the renewables space, the company is rapidly expanding its base in solar. As of Dec 31, 2017, PSEG Power owned and operated 414 MW dc of photovoltaic solar generation facilities across various states. To further expand its solar operations and support New Jersey Senate’s bill that requires utilities in the state to source 80% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2050, Solar 4 All seems to be an apt strategic decision by the company.

Price Movement

Public Service Enterprise’s shares have returned 16.8% in a year’s time, outperforming the industry’s gain of 0.8%. Consistent investments in infrastructure projects and focus on expanding renewable assets have boosted Public Service Enterprise’s performance.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Public Service Enterprise carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks from the same industry are Ameren Corp. (NYSE:AEE) , Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE:LNT) and IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) , all carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Ameren’s expected EPS growth for three to five years is pegged at 6.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EPS moved up 0.7% in the last 30 days.

Alliant Energy’s expected EPS growth for three to five years is pegged at 5.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same moved up by a penny in the last 30 days.

IDACORP‘s expected EPS growth for three to five years is 3.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same moved up by a penny in the last 30 days.

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