VINELAND — Area officials gathered at the local Ramada on W. Landis Avenue Friday for a ribbon cutting ceremony marking completion of a 500 kilowatt ground-mounted solar energy project.

The solar system is designed to provide sufficient electricity per year to power the equivalent of 60 households, in the process, avoiding more than 800,000 pounds of pollutant emissions a year.

The Vineland Ramada is the first member of the Wyndam Hotel family in the Garden State to be powered by the sun.

“We are excited to join the state’s growing green energy community,” says owner John Scipione.