The completion of a 2011 project installing 71 solar generating facilities in Morris, Somerset and Sussex counties has been delayed again, following an arbitrator’s decision that put the developer in financial default.
The developer, SunLight General of New York, and the contractor, MasTec of North Carolina, have been embroiled in a court dispute over who was responsible for cost overruns. The arbitrator determined this month that SunLight owes $59 million to MasTec, according to Morris County Administrator John Bonanni.
The counties’ improvement authorities, which approved $88.8 million in bond issues for the project in 2011, declared SunLight in default and must now work out a “mutually agreeable arrangement “ with MasTec that will free up the bond monies and allow completion of the work, according to a statement issued by the three county administrators.
Although the counties are “ultimately on the hook” for the bond issues, officials are hopeful they can resolve the differences among the parties and put the projects back on track, said Morris County Freeholder John Krickus.
About half the sites have been built in Morris and Sussex, and all but two have been constructed in Somerset. They are providing solar power to schools and to municipal and county buildings.
SunLight will continue to maintain the sites on an “interim basis” until a successor is found, according to Bonanni.
The arbitration resulted from a lawsuit filed by the three counties after MasTec placed $49.8 million in liens against the project, effectively halting the work in February 2013.
MasTec said it had performed more than $79.2 million worth of “construction services” for the solar projects, but had been paid only $33 million by SunLight, according to court documents.
SunLight, meanwhile, accused MasTec of “cost overruns” and of performing work not covered in its contract.
Both the Superior Court and appeals court in New Jersey ruled against MasTec, saying the contractor had no legal authority to file liens against the bond monies.
However, the bond monies have remained inaccessible as MasTec took its appeal to the state Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear MasTec’s appeal but has not yet scheduled a hearing.
All the parties agreed that the bond monies should remain "frozen" pending the resolution of the case, Bonanni said.