Kimco Realty Corporation and American Capital Energy (ACE) recently announced the completion of a 800kW photovoltaic (PV) solar rooftop array at Kimco's North Brunswick Plaza located on Route 1 in North Brunswick, NJ. This completed project marks the first of three solar energy projects with Kimco and ACE.
Kimco through its wholly owned subsidiary, Center Sun LLC (Center Sun), has initiated a renewable energy program to develop, own and operate commercial grade rooftop solar systems at select Kimco-owned shopping centers.
Center Sun generates income through the contractual sale of solar electricity to its retail tenants and selling solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) to third party compliance and voluntary market buyers.
As the system owner, Kimco is able to install PV arrays on selected rooftops and sell the power back to its tenants at a fixed and discounted price reducing future pricing volatility.
Additionally, Kimco can provide its tenants shorter 2-5 year power purchase agreements versus the traditional 20 year agreements.
This groundbreaking renewable energy program enables Kimco to reduce operating costs for tenants, expand its ancillary income platform and recognize significant compliance benefits while still maintaining full control of its rooftops.
More importantly, Kimco's renewable energy program facilitates the advancement of its green initiatives and sustainability programs and promotes solar as a viable alternative to grid power in the shopping center business.
The solar rooftop array also delivers environmental benefits that include the displacement of more than 750,000 pounds of CO2 emissions and 931 pounds of NOx emissions from coal fired power plants, which is the equivalent of taking more than 200 cars off the road each year.
ACE, an American-owned solar-electric power systems integrator, managed all engineering, procurement and installations of the North Brunswick solar rooftop array.
Although installation was conducted during harsher than normal winter conditions, ACE completed the entire project within a four month timeframe.
Tom Hunton, ACE President and CEO, said "We look forward to working with the Kimco team to develop cost-efficient and effective solar energy systems to further expand their renewable energy program. Kimco's North Brunswick project showcased ACE's ability to apply a creative engineering solution and bring a client on-line very quickly, even in 2 feet of snow."
