The Monmouth County Planning Board recently presented CentraState Healthcare System with the 2019 Planning Merit Award in recognition of its Solar Energy Initiative. The award recognizes initiatives that have significantly advanced planning and planning outcomes in Monmouth County.

In addition to having a solar farm on the hospital property, CentraState just completed a solar carport installation in parking areas around the medical center and ambulatory campus. CentraState now produces the largest percentage of solar power of any hospital in New Jersey.

These solar initiatives allow CentraState to generate approximately 61 percent of its electric consumption and achieve savings of approximately a half-million dollars in energy costs each year, reducing its carbon footprint and the impact on Freehold Township’s electrical grid. The installations offset greenhouse gases equivalent to over one million gallons of gas consumption, or supplying 1,590 homes with electricity for one year.

Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger, PhD (left), and Freeholder Lillian Barry (right) join CentraState Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Thomas W. Scott, FACHE, FABC (second from left), and CentraState Human Resources Employee Relations Business Partner Stephen Rubino, who accepted the Planning Merit Award on behalf of CentraState.