The Atlantic City Utilities Authority, under the direction of President Rick Dovey, is the winner of this month’s SNJBP Impact Award.
   The Authority is a public agency that provides environmental and waste management services to the people of Atlantic County and southern New Jersey.
   The ACUA operates both Wastewater and Solid Waste Management Systems. The Wastewater facility is located in Atlantic City and the Solid Waste and Recycling facility is located in Egg Harbor Township.
The ACUA:
   • is powered by a landfill gas to energy plant,
   • has one of NJ's largest solar installations,
   • is home to NJ's first commercial wind farm,
  • has a geothermally heated and cooled administrative building,
   • has the largest biodiesel fleet in the state,
   • owns several hybrid vehicles,
   • owns electic vehicles used on and off site which are charged with power generated by the sun, wind and landfill gas,
   • is transitioning its collection fleet from diesel to clean, inexpensive, domestically produced compressed natural gas,
   • is the first organization in NJ to join the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), and generates carbon offset credits to market as a member of Climate Action Reserve
   • participates in Energy Curtailment to help reduce the need for standby power generation, and
   • is home to single-stream recycling facility.
   The Authority’s wind farm is located at ACUA’s Wastewater Treatment Facility in Atlantic City and includes five 380-foot tall turbines, each of which is capable of producing 1.5 megawatts for a total of 7.5 megawatts.
   That’s enough energy to power approximately 2,500 homes. And the Authority estimates that the energy produced by the wind farm will save the energy equivalent of 11,964 barrels of crude oil per year.
   Operational since December 2005, the project cost $12.5 million and has saved the ACUA approximately $2.5 million in its first five years of operation.
   When operating at design wind conditions, the energy is used to operate the ACUA wastewater treatment plant, with any excess energy provided to the main power grid.
The Authority’s Solar Electric or Photovoltaic (PV) project is a 500 kilowatt (DC) system with 2,700 electric modules or panels installed at five locations at the ACUA Treatment Facility.
   The five locations include two ground-mounted and two roof-mounted arrays, and a canopy array.
   The PV system does not produce enough electricity to allow grid supply or net metering, so each array provides solar generated electricity directly to the plant’s electrical system.
   Completed and fully operational by June 2006, the project was constructed in two phases. The first phase included the installation of the two roof-mounted arrays, canopy array over the employee parking lot, and a small ground-mount array for a total output of 280 kW (DC). The second phase included a 220 kW (DC) ground-mount array.
   Since installation was completed, more than 2,364 metric tons of CO2 have been avoided and the project is estimated to produce more than 600,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually.
   The ACUA saved more than $500,000 in 2010 as a result of avoided electricity costs and proceeds from the Solar Renewal Energy Credits or SRECs.