In late 2013, SMECO worked with the National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO) to develop a request for proposals and evaluated about 30 submissions before selecting JSI. JSI is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. According to Austin J. Slater, Jr., SMECO’s president and CEO, “By working with NRCO and JSI, we are developing a project that will provide renewable energy right here in our service area, helping us to meet our regulatory requirements and to avoid costly transmission fees.” He added, “Our customer-members will be glad to know that the cost of the energy provided by this solar project is very reasonable and will have a positive effect on customer rates.”

SMECO purchases all generated energy, capacity, and Solar Renewable Energy Credits for 20 years from the Rockfish Solar project now owned by PSEG.  The project is located in Waldorf, Maryland in Charles County on 69 acres. The solar facility reached full commercial operations in June of 2015 and is expected to generate approximately 21,000 MWh each year by way of the 42,240 solar modules using single-axis tracking technology.