How can tenants work together in larger commercial spaces to install solar panels and then receive the energy savings over the longterm payout? Is solar energy something that commercial building plans are implementing? Do landlords have incentives to install solar panels?

There are very attractive rebates and incentives both Federal and State for solar but solar systems by themselves are often 7-10 year paybacks. There are new developments in commercial solar technology which are now making it possible to install solar on commercial buildings with no up front capital costs. Those are termed PPA standing for power purchase agreements. That is where the solar vendor will install the complete system at their expense and get paid via the rebates and generation of the system; many times you can benefit from fixed utility costs in a PPA during the PPA term and when it is finally paid in full then recieve the savings directly.

Landlords will often find solar an attractive technology that will make their building more marketable so they should be open to working with a tenant to implement a system. Their concerns are usually not the technology but how it impacts the roof systems. Today many systems can be installed without any penetrations of the roof membrane which is a big plus for building landlords.

The best way to approach solar is not by an isolated basis but rather by looking at the whole building system. It is beneficial to have an experienced commercial energy efficiency company to help you identify energy efficiency opportunities in the building HVAC, lighting, etc. The reason is that those are often short two year or less paybacks if properly engineered on a performance basis and thus when combined with solar will provide a much shorter return on investment. If I can be of further help or you want more information you can feel free to contact me directly.

Post edited by: greeniac168, at: 07/08/2009