New Jersey utilities float solar panels on reservoir, powering water treatment plant

Two New Jersey utilities have joined forces on a clean energy project to pump water from a reservoir to 84,000 homes and businesses. New Jersey American Water Company and NJR Clean Energy Ventures put more than 16,500 floating solar panels atop the water of a reservoir in Millburn. The power generated by those floating panels provides 95% of the electricity that the Canoe Brook Water Treatment plant requires each day. The companies say the 17-acre solar array is the largest floating solar array in North America. Long popular in Asia, floating solar arrays are starting to catch on in the United States.