Feb 8, 2007 8:53 AM, from staff and wire reports

The initial phase of a $9 million corporate solar-electric project involving refrigerated warehouses in South Plainfield NJ is nearly finished.

Billionaire media mogul Ted Turner’s renewable energy company DT Solar is handling the project. Turner recently visited the Hall’s Warehouse Corp site to see the 4,000 roof-mounted solar panels installed so far. Upon completion, 8,000 solar panels will power both Hall’s refrigerated warehouses. The firm supplies refrigerated and dry storage and shipping to commercial clients.

In the next 30 years, these solar panels are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 24,000 tons, according DT Solar. The South Plainfield installation is expected to receive more than $4.5 million in rebates from the New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program.

Solar panels create direct current and feed this energy into an inverter, which converts it to alternative current and sends it to warehouse power outlets. The panels should supply as much as 10 percent of the facilities’ energy requirements.