Real estate firm goes solar

The New Hyde Park real estate investment trust Kimco Realty Corp. has created a new subsidiary to install solar panels on the rooftops of its shopping centers — and has finished its first such project at a New Jersey property.

The new 800 kilowatt photovoltaic installation is at Kimco's mall in North Brunswick, N.J.

The energy created is the equivalent of coal-fired power that would produce 931 pounds of the nitrogen oxides that are linked to ozone in the atmosphere, Kimco said.

Another way of looking at the benefits of the new solar installation is that it is "the equivalent of taking more than 200 cars off the road each year," Kimco said.

Its subsidiary, Center Sun Llc, installs the solar stations and sells the power to mall retail tenants, developing a new source of income for the parent company. It also gives mall tenants a lower-cost, steady supply of power, Kimco said.

It plans to build two more mall solar arrays.

"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 company said in a news release.

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