while a form of solar power popular in Eastern countries is now catching on in the U.S floating solar arrays are coveted for both their clean power and lack of a land footprint that's especially attractive to a densely populated state like New Jersey now home to the largest floating solar project in North America Melissa Rose Cooper has the story environmentalists are celebrating one of the latest projects in the fight against climate change in New Jersey this floating solar array located on the Canoe Brook Reservoir and Short Hills this is a long time coming but uh a great uh a great outcome the installation is a joint collaboration between New Jersey resources clean energy Ventures and New Jersey American Water the state's largest water and wastewater provider it has a capacity of 8.9 megawatts providing roughly 95 percent of the power plant's needs which produces 14 million gallons of drinking water a day for about 84 000 customers it focuses on our efforts to impact greenhouse gases and gas emission reductions and if you don't know American water has recently announced several goals in that regard and targets that support that strategy first we expect to reduce our absolute scope one in scope 2 emissions 50% by 2035 off of our 2020 Baseline second we expect to achieve a net zero scope one in scope 2 emissions by 2050. it's an amazing undertaking this year an annually will be offsetting over 8 000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions through this project and as Mark said it takes a lot of energy energy to move water we're going to be supplying over 95 percent of the energy needs of this facility it's it's a it's a terrific project and an exciting one there are more than 6 18 000 solar panels that make up this floating array making it the largest one in North America floating solar projects join the more than 650 schools in New Jersey that now have solar power the second most in the country and the state also boasts as it's Mount Olive solar farm 26 megawatts capacity the largest solar array on a landfill in the country with more than 30 solar projects on landfills and brownfields what is otherwise compromised property not only are floating solar arrays known for its ability to produce clean energy environmentalists say they can also reduce evaporation from the water Surface by acting as a cooling agent for the panels increasing their efficiency without affecting dissolved oxygen constants or harming Aquatic Life climate change is real it's here and it's now right it's not Haze that you see behind us hovering up in the air it's the remnants of wildfire in Canada that's blowing down on us today affecting negatively our air quality our forest fire service part of the dep has been stretch to the Limit all across our state the last few months fighting wildfires here right so these occurrences a product of our drying conditions our changing climate itself and the fact that we are able to build Partnerships like this one to reduce our emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change is not only necessary but on behalf of myself and the governor so deeply appreciated another step in fighting climate change environmentalists are hoping will continue to grow for NJ Spotlight news I'm Melissa Rose Cooper [Music] [Music]