EDISON — Donning black shades and an orange safety vest, Gov. Phil Murphy viewed the latest innovative solar rooftop panel energy system installation on Amazon’s fulfillment center in Edison.
The governor, along with Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak (D-Middlesex), Assemblywoman Nancy Pinkin (D-Middlesex), Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey and members of the Edison Township Council, helped the fulfillment center celebrate the installation on Sept. 24.
The celebration marks Amazon’s 19th operational rooftop solar installation in the United States. The Edison facility at 2170 Route 27 is one of eight fulfillment facilities in the state.
“We are celebrating 900,000 square feet of economic progress, home to 2,000 full-time jobs with solid benefits and a project site, which created hundreds more jobs for building and construction,” Murphy said. “The facility has one foot squarely in the clean energy economy with 12,654 solar panels, producing four megawatts of energy meeting over 20 percent of the building’s needs. Add 900,000 square feet with advanced robotics working alongside other systems, [the facility] getting 20 percent of [its] energy needs off the roof is pretty impressive.”
Amazon’s Edison facility opened in October 2017 and utilizes Amazon robotics technology and innovative processes to enable associates to continue to meet and exceed customers’ expectations.
Murphy said New Jersey proves it has everything that a global operation like Amazon needs.
“We got a great workforce: eager, smart and skilled,” he said. “We have a location that is second to none, easily connected to markets, tens of millions of customers, and when you are in the logistics business nothing is more important than a strategic location and we have a commitment to innovation.”
Amazon first launched operations in New Jersey in 2012 and since then, the company has grown its fulfillment workforce in the state to more than 16,000 full-time employees across fulfillment centers in Avenel, Carteret, Cranbury, Edison, Florence, Logan Township, West Deptford and Robbinsville, as well as at the Amazon Audible headquarters in Newark, an Amazon Books Store in Paramus and Amazon Fresh locations across the state. In 2019, Amazon will launch another fulfillment center in Burlington, bringing in an additional 600 new, full-time jobs.
Murphy said Amazon is creating new opportunities for many other businesses including small businesses.
“The spiderweb impact from Edison is unlike anybody,” he said, adding Amazon embraces forward-looking businesses, creates good family supporting jobs and assists charitable organizations. “There is no doubt the Amazon-New Jersey relationship is a win-win. It’s a relationship I hope becomes stronger over time.”
After a press conference, Alex Urankar, general manager of the Edison facility, led a tour of the facility and the rooftop. Urankar said he came to Amazon three years ago after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. He said he liked Amazon because the company shares the same values he learned in the military.
Contact Kathy Chang at kchang@newspapermediagroup.com.
