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An 18-acre solar garden has been dedicated adjacent to Mars Chocolate's North America headquarters in Hackettstown, NJ. The 2.15MW (DC) power plant--which is comprised of more than 28,000 ground-mounted First Solar thin-film PV modules--is said to be the largest solar energy facility installed in New Jersey by a food manufacturing plant and the first project completed by Public Service Enterprise Group's PSEG Solar Source subsidiary.

Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) has received approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to invest $515 million in 80MW of solar projects, doubling the state's photovoltaic capacity and creating green jobs. Under an agreement reached in its "Solar 4 All" filing, the utility said it expects to finish the installations by the end of 2013. As part of the deal, Petra Solar has won a contract to manufacture 40MW of its utility-pole PV systems.