North Jersey Media Group switched on its solar power facility this month, enabling the company to generate more than 60 percent of the electricity required for its Rockaway printing plant with the sun’s energy.
In a partnership with KDC Solar, of Bedminster, the solar facility has an output of 5 megawatts of power, which is the equivalent of powering 700 households a year, according to a press release.
“We already buy newsprint from suppliers who contribute zero percent to deforestation, meaning there is no loss in trees,” Stephen Borg, president of North Jersey Media Group, said. “This solar effort brings us to the next step. The end result is that more than half of our plant’s electricity needs will be met through the sun.”
Rockaway is one the nation’s busiest newspaper printing plants. In addition to The Record and other North Jersey Media Group publications, Rockaway prints USA Today, The Journal News, Poughkeepsie Journal, New Jersey Herald, Investor’s Business Daily and all the publications of Greater Media Newspapers.
The solar installation, which includes 20,400 panels on the roof and grounds surrounding the company’s 350,000-squarefoot plant, commenced in 2011.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a similarly green printing facility,” Bob Konig, vice president of operations, said. “We are pretty proud of that.”