Short Hills Mall: New Solar Panels Will Power Half Of Common Area

SHORT HILLS, NJ — The Mall At Short Hills is going solar. Earlier this week, mall spokespeople announced that construction is underway on a 3.5-mw solar installation on top of the shopping center’s parking decks

The new solar installation is expected to go online in early 2018, and will provide about 50 percent of the electricity required for heating, cooling and lighting the mall’s common areas.

“No parking spaces will be lost, and during installation no disruption to shoppers is anticipated,” mall spokespeople said.

• See related article: PSEG Wants To Put More Solar Panels In N.J. Landfills, Brownfields

The Mall at Short Hills has begun the municipal permitting process and has registered with the State of New Jersey’s Solar Renewable Energy Credits program, part of a commitment to operate “in a sustainable manner,” General Manager Jamie Cox said.

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“In October, we completed the conversion of approximately 8,700 florescent lamps inside the center and our parking garages to LED, extending the life of each lamp from 3 to 4 years to 10, and reducing energy usage by more than 40 percent,” Cox said. “We’re now installing LED fixtures in the exterior parking areas. When we complete that work by the end of November, the combined lighting projects alone will achieve annual savings equivalent to the amount of energy required to power 115 average New Jersey homes for one year.”

Cox said that when the mall installed a fiber optic infrastructure to help manage its energy use in 2013 - part of the center’s “Smart Building” initiative – it was a game-changer.

“Today we can monitor, analyze and adjust our systems in real time, 24/7,” he said. “Our lighting upgrades and the use of clean, renewable energy generated from state-of-the-art photovoltaic panels right here on our property will build on those capabilities.”

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Photo: Mall At Short Hills