The last of nearly 200 electricians and laborers at a Mount Holly landfill finished last week, leaving behind a sprawling solar farm that will capture the sun's rays and convert them into energy.

The solar farm atop the former L&D Landfill has begun silently churning out about 12.9 megawatts of energy. That's enough electricity to power about 2,000 homes, PSE&G officials say.

"It's our largest solar farm in New Jersey," said Todd Hranicka, director of Solar Energy for the utility company, as rows and rows of 42,000 panels were being installed on a gray day last month. In recent days, a direct "interconnection" was made between the panels and the grid. 

Francis Sullivan, a PSE&G spokesman, said the solar farm is in full operation and "only needs maintenance every six months." Snow, rain and wind typically do not create any problems for the panels, but minor adjustments may need to be made, he said. 

The interconnection was performed by linking the wires in the solar panels to a line of wires underground that travel up a single utility pole at the edge of the site, Sullivan said. The solar energy directly enters the grid, he said, mingling with the current traveling into peoples' homes. "It's hard to say exactly where the electrons go, exactly, but they would go into homes in the surrounding area," in Burlington County, Sullivan said. There's no storage system, so the amount generated depends on how sunny the day is and also the length of the day, he said. The output is also calculated by considering the amount of solar power generated by each panel, the average amount of electricity used per household, and other factors, Sullivan said.