Transcript
Hi, I’m Bart Frischknecht from Lumen Energy.
If you’re considering installing solar on your roof, you might be wondering: how will I make sure I can still access the roof to maintain it once a solar system is installed?
It’s a great question, and it’s something that makes sense to think about before moving forward with a solar project.
When you lease your roof for solar, the developer has certain rights—similar to any tenant in your building. They want to ensure that nothing is added to the roof that could shade their panels or interfere with the system.
At the same time, you as the building owner or landlord retain the right to access your roof to handle maintenance, equipment servicing, repairs, or other work that may need to be done.
Let’s look at how this typically works in practice under a solar lease.
There are generally two scenarios to consider when it comes to roof access during the lease term.
The first involves routine maintenance and normal roof activity—things like regular wear and tear, roof repairs, or installing equipment for a new tenant. These activities typically don’t significantly disrupt the solar system, but they still need to be coordinated.
Depending on how the lease is structured, you may be responsible for what’s called lost energy revenue, or the solar developer may provide a grace period for routine work. In many cases, with advance notice, the developer can temporarily shut down or adjust parts of the system so you can access the area that needs repair or maintenance.
Lost energy revenue exists because the solar developer leases your roof in order to generate income from the electricity produced by the system. If the system isn’t producing power, they can’t sell that electricity.
Solar project revenue usually comes from multiple sources. Some comes from selling electricity, some from state or utility incentives, and—especially in the early years—some from tax credits.
Because of this structure, leases often allow a certain number of days, a percentage of system downtime, or a specific amount of electricity loss before any compensation is required. If work on the roof exceeds those thresholds, there may be a calculation to determine the developer’s lost revenue.
In practice, most solar leases are designed to allow for typical roof maintenance and repairs without major disruption.
The second scenario to consider is a full roof replacement.
If you already know the roof will need replacement soon, it’s usually best to complete that work before installing a solar system. On the other hand, if the roof is relatively new, it’s unlikely that replacement will be necessary during the life of the solar project.
If the roof may need to be replaced during the lease term, it’s important to address that during lease negotiations. There are several ways to structure this.
One approach is for the building owner to plan for the cost of temporarily removing and reinstalling the solar system when the roof is replaced. Another common approach is negotiating a structure where the solar developer takes on the risk and cost of a one-time roof replacement.
If that cost is built into the agreement upfront, the lease payment may be slightly lower, but you gain the certainty that neither you nor a future owner will have to bear the cost of removing and reinstalling the system later.
To summarize: if you’re considering solar, you can have confidence that you will still maintain control of your roof and be able to perform necessary maintenance and repairs.
Solar leases also include provisions for emergencies and situations where the entire roof needs to be replaced. How those costs are handled depends on the lease terms, and there are ways to structure the agreement so you have the protections and flexibility you need.
We recommend working with an experienced solar broker to make sure the issues that matter most to your business are addressed in the lease, so you can move forward with solar while remaining confident about the long-term management of your roof.
