Solar rooftop Lease considerations
I have a client who owns several large warehouses, with rooftop space ideal for solar installations.  We were thinking about leasing the rooftops as a way to create additional revenue, but it seems like there may be a large risk for small returns.  Does anyone have experience with this type of lease?  Have you encountered any unexpected issues?  Would you do it again knowing what you do now?



[{"id": "dbvnqo1", "text": "Most if not all industrial leases have a clause that grants landlord the right to use rooftops for solar purposes. I have never seen a solar use lease but I would be interested in seeing how the leasing is done. I can't imagine it's too much different that a commercial rooftop advertisement lease. I work with a large industrial warehouse landlord and they aren't doing solar rooftop leases, there must be a reason for that.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dbvv2p2", "text": "Just call a large company that does solar installations. They will likely be able to do a free analysis for you so you know what kind of income you'd likely be looking at to determine if it is worthwhile.\n\nI think there are basically two scenarios as well, 1) landlord buys the panels (minus relevant tax credits) and slowly recovers that upfront investment over time, eventually turning a profit, or 2) a third party company comes in, they install/own the panels and pay a small fee or profit share to the landlord for the right to install the panels at this location.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dbz5bbm", "text": "If you have a company come in and install their panels for profit sharing etc, I would make sure they carry a lot of insurance that covers the building and loss of life, you would be after all a power plant. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "hwzp006", "text": "Hey did your client end up leasing their space? I am thinking about building a marketplace for landlords like your client to post their rooftop space for developers to bid to lease. I'd love to hear how this went, what you found and if you know other landlords interested in doing this today?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]