While New Jersey has often been touted as an ideal place inwhich to pursue solar power, recent drawbacks in governmentincentives, coupled with a volatile solar renewable energy creditmarket, has led some commercial developers and property owners toview the installation of solar panels with a more critical eye.

In April 2011, we at Avidan Management completed a 4.26-megawattsolar installation on the roof of our 656,255-square-footdistribution facility at 145 Talmadge Road in Edison, NJ.Recognized as the largest rooftop-mounted installation in thecountry at the time, it was projected to have a fairly quickpayback period, with SRECs trading as high as $685.

Today, with the market flooded, SRECs are trading at less thanone-third of that price, making the payback period veryunpredictable. So do we regret the decision to install solar at 145Talmadge? Absolutely not. While the payback on a solar installationmay not be what it was a year ago, the solar market in New Jerseyshould continue to flourish for a reason that won't be changing anytime soon: Solar installations definitely drive leasingactivity.