The installation company would retain ownership of the panels and effectively lease the roof space on which they operated for up to 25 years while the homeowner benefited from free electricity.
Leasing roof space for solar panels.
An agreement to lease your property for a solar installation.
Some companies also offer power purchase agreements or ppas.
The same can now be accomplished for rooftop solar energy proponents looking for space on which to install solar panels and supporting equipment.
Buying solar panels requires an investment and more decision making than leasing but over the long term the benefits of owning your system are hard to beat.
Leases of roof space for solar panels homeowners beware such is the growing trend for energy efficient properties that it is becoming more and more common for utility companies such as british gas to offer to take on a long lease of a homeowner s roof space in order to install solar panels on the roof.
Most lenders will agree a loan on a property with leased solar panels provided the contract meets certain conditions one of them being that the installing company be accredited the installation.
As owners of enormous amounts of warehouse space electrical distributors may take special interest in the announcement earlier this year that warehousing giant prologis denver colo had signed new leases with southern california edison sce to let the electric utility install photovoltaic pv systems on 4 8 million square feet of rooftops at its warehouses.
One of the most popular uses for the vast unused space is to lease roof area to telecommunications companies for installation of antennas batteries and other equipment for cellular communications.
There are no equipment or maintenance obligations or costs to the site owner.
Whether you are leasing roof space for solar panels or paying cash outright the amount of raw roof are you need for your solar installation depends on how much electricity you want to produce and how many solar panels you need.
From 2015 through 2017 homeowners in the united states installed 6 909 gigawatts worth of rooftop solar panels which was double the amount added in the previous 10 years 5.
The more electricity you want to produce the more roof space you ll need for your installation.
Solar leasing and ppas account for over half of this total and there are some excellent reasons why solar leasing has.
A solar lease is a financing option for residential solar panels where the homeowner leases panels from a solar company.
Advantages of leasing solar panels.
If you re interested in solar energy you aren t alone.
In a lease you pay to rent the solar power system typically for about 20 percent less than you were paying for electricity explained freedom forever solar ceo brett bouchy.