MURRAY HILL, NJ-Alcatel-Lucent today “flippedthe switch” at its newest solar farm, located at 600 MountainAvenue, at the Bell Labs campus here. The six-acre farm isparticularly appropriate for the 3,728-panel, 1.2-megawatt array.In 1954, Bell Labs invented the first useful photovoltaic device atthe 200-acre campus.

ConEdison Development is the developer ownerand operator of the array, with San Jose, CA-based SunPowerCorp. serving as the designer and builder. Expected to bepresent at the ceremony were Alice White, BellLabs chief scientist; J. Brooke Hern, mayor of NewProvidence, NJ; Robert Mennella, COO of ConEdisonDevelopment; and John Conley, project developmentdirector, SunPower Corp.

Unlike most solar farms, the new array utilizes trackers thatwill move with the sun during the day, ConEdison Development VP andCOO Mark Noyes told GlobeSt.comin April. The trackers, according to the company willincrease sunlight capture by 25% over fixed systems, while reducingland requirements. “You get more energy and solar renewable energycertificates (SRECs),” Noyes previously stated. “If land isexpensive, you do that.”