Rooftop solar program awarded top honors by ICSC

Las Vegas Developers Diversified Realty Corp. announced that the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) presented the company with the "Best-of-the-Best" award during its annual conference in Las Vegas, called RECon, for the company's innovative rooftop solar panel program.

"Best-of-the-Best" awards honor and recognize the top examples of shopping center design and development, sustainability, marketing, and community service worldwide. Developers Diversified was awarded top honors in the marketing category.

Developers Diversified entered into a partnership last year with solar energy services provider, SunEdison, for the rights to deploy solar energy systems at over 200 shopping centers throughout the United States. Between December 2009 and February 2010, solar panel arrays were activated at Developers Diversified shopping centers in New Jersey.

The active projects in New Jersey are located at Nassau Park Pavilion in Princeton; Hamilton Marketplace in Hamilton; and Route 22 Retail Center in Union. These projects total over 143,000 sq. ft. of available roof space for solar panels and will generate approximately 1.4 million kilowatts (kWh) of solar energy in the first full year of operation. Over 20 years, the sites will generate approximately 26 million kilowatt-hours, enough energy to power over 2,400 homes for one year.