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Commercial solar, starting with your actual tariff

Whether a commercial array pays depends on three things a developer rarely opens with: how much of your bill is demand charges, how many years are left on your lease or your roof, and who ends up owning the asset. We match you with vetted commercial installers.

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In short

What is commercial solar?

Commercial solar is a grid-tied generation asset sized against a business tariff rather than a household bill, and the analysis is different in kind, not just in scale. Commercial rates commonly bill demand — your highest measured power draw in a period — separately from consumption, and an array reduces consumption far more reliably than it reduces peak demand. Scoping starts with twelve months of interval data and the rate schedule, then works through roof structure, remaining lease term and the ownership structure that will hold the asset.

Triggers

Signs you need commercial solar

You have large, flat or low-slope roof area over a single-storey footprint — warehousing, distribution, light manufacturing, retail, cold storage
Your load profile is daytime-heavy and matches the production curve without needing storage to shift it
You occupy the building as owner, or hold a long lease with the right to make structural alterations
Refrigeration, compressed air, process equipment or HVAC drive a consistently high daytime baseline
You have carport-capable parking, ground area or canopy structures that could host an array without touching the roof at all
You are already re-roofing, so structural assessment and membrane detailing can be handled once rather than twice
Procurement or reporting commitments make on-site generation a stated business objective rather than purely a cost decision

Seeing something not on this list? Browse solar problems by symptom →

The job

How commercial solar actually works

Interval data and rate schedule analysis, before any design

The starting point is twelve months of interval data and your actual rate schedule, not an annual spend figure. The analysis separates consumption charges from demand charges, identifies when your peaks occur, and establishes how much of them fall inside daylight hours.

Watch for: A proposal built from your total annual bill divided by kilowatt-hours. That blends demand and consumption into an average that does not exist on any tariff, and it systematically overstates what an array will save. Ask which rate schedule the model uses and to see the demand component separated out.
Roof structure, condition and remaining life

A commercial roof assessment covers structural capacity for the added dead load and any wind uplift or seismic requirement, plus the condition and remaining life of the membrane. Ballasted, mechanically attached and adhered systems each interact differently with racking.

Watch for: A membrane with fewer years left than the array's design life, and a roofing warranty that does not survive third-party attachment. Get the roof manufacturer's position in writing, use an installer their warranty programme accepts, and if the roof is ageing, re-roof first — removing and re-setting a commercial array later is a substantial project in its own right.
Site control: ownership, lease term and consents

The array outlives most commercial leases. Where the building is leased, the project needs landlord consent, a clear position on who owns the equipment at lease end, and a decision on who receives the bill savings — which in a triple-net structure may not be the party funding the work.

Watch for: A project modelled over a term longer than your security of tenure. Settle removal obligations, ownership at expiry and any make-good clause before signing, not during a lease negotiation years later.
Interconnection study and utility approval

Commercial interconnection is a heavier process than residential. Depending on system size and local circuit conditions, the utility may require studies, protective equipment, or upgrades to the distribution network — and the cost of those can be assigned to the project.

Watch for: Interconnection treated as a formality in the schedule. It is frequently the longest and least predictable item, and a required network upgrade can materially change the economics. Ask what the utility's queue and study timeline currently looks like for a system of this size in this territory.
Ownership and financing structure

The project can be owned outright, financed, or held by a third party under a lease or a power purchase agreement in which the developer owns the asset and sells you the output. Ownership determines who takes the tax and depreciation benefits, who carries the maintenance obligation, and what happens at end of term.

Watch for: The escalator in a long-term PPA, and the buyout and assignment terms. A rate that starts below your utility price but rises annually can invert if utility prices do not rise as assumed. Price the whole contract term, and check whether the agreement can be assigned if you sell the building. Have a qualified tax adviser confirm what your entity can actually use before any benefit is priced into a model.
Storage and demand management, assessed separately

If demand charges are a large share of your bill, storage with a demand-management controller — or simply shifting a controllable load — may deliver more than additional panels. This is a distinct analysis from the consumption saving and should be modelled on its own.

Watch for: Demand-charge reduction claimed from an array alone. Peak demand can be set by a brief event on a cloudy afternoon or outside daylight entirely. Ask to see the demand analysis separately from the consumption analysis, with the assumptions stated.
Construction, commissioning and operations handover

Construction is sequenced around your operations, with roof access, safety and any shutdown windows agreed in advance. Commissioning should produce measured results, as-built drawings, and a defined operations and maintenance arrangement with response times.

Watch for: No operations and maintenance agreement, or one with no response-time commitment. On a commercial asset, an undetected fault is a monthly financial loss, and the party responsible for noticing should be named in a contract.

Money

What does commercial solar cost?

Commercial projects are priced per watt and fall well below residential rates at scale, but interconnection studies, structural work, roof remediation and switchgear can move a budget substantially. Confirm the current federal and state incentive and depreciation position with a qualified adviser before it is built into any model.

See the full commercial solar cost guide — by material, size and region →

Solar tools and calculators → Size a commercial array against interval data rather than an annual bill.

Straight answer

When commercial solar is the wrong call

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

Your bill is dominated by demand charges rather than consumption. An array reduces kilowatt-hours far more reliably than it reduces a measured peak. If demand is the larger line, model storage and load management first — solar alone may barely touch the charge you were trying to remove.
Your lease has fewer years left than the asset's design life, and you have no landlord agreement. A 25-year installation on a building you may vacate in six is a negotiation you have not had yet. Settle ownership, removal and make-good obligations before design work starts.
Your roof membrane is near end of life. Re-roof first. Removing, storing and re-setting a commercial array is a project of its own, and third-party attachment can compromise a roofing warranty you are relying on.
Your load is genuinely night-shifted. A second-shift or overnight operation exports most of its production and buys back at night. Whether that works depends entirely on what your utility pays for exported power — get that from the utility before you accept a savings model built on it.
Your entity cannot use the tax and depreciation benefits. Non-profits, entities without sufficient liability, and some ownership structures cannot capture them directly, which changes the case materially and may point toward a third-party structure instead. Confirm with a qualified adviser rather than with the developer.
The only thing making the model work is an assumed rate of utility inflation over twenty years. Ask for the same model with flat utility rates. If it fails there, you are buying a forecast rather than a saving.

Your options

Types of commercial solar

Ground mount and carport arrays

When the roof is unsuitable, occupied or too close to replacement.

Add storage for demand management

The part of a commercial bill panels alone do not address.

Ownership and financing structures

Direct ownership, financing, lease and PPA compared.

Fleet and workplace EV charging

Where charging load and generation interact.

Compare solar options side by side →

Before you sign

What to check when hiring for commercial solar

Which rate schedule did you model, and can I see demand and consumption savings separated?

The single most common flaw in commercial proposals. A blended average per kilowatt-hour hides the fact that an array does little for the demand component.
What does my roof manufacturer require for the warranty to survive attachment?

A voided membrane warranty is a large uninsured liability sitting under a 25-year asset. Get the manufacturer's written position, not the installer's assurance.
Has a structural engineer confirmed the roof can carry this array under local wind and seismic requirements?

Dead load, uplift and attachment method are engineering questions with a stamp attached, not a sales judgement.
What is the utility's current interconnection timeline and study requirement for this size in this territory?

Typically the longest and least controllable item in the programme, and network upgrade costs can be assigned to the project.
Under this structure, who owns the asset, who takes the tax and depreciation benefit, and who maintains it?

These three can sit with three different parties. If the developer takes the benefits, that should be visible in the price rather than presented as a saving to you.
If this is a PPA, what is the escalator, what is the buyout schedule, and is the contract assignable if I sell the building?

A long-term obligation attached to a property affects its sale. Read the assignment clause before you need it, not during due diligence.
What operations and maintenance agreement comes with this, and what is the response time?

A commercial array that quietly stops producing loses money every month. Someone should be contractually obliged to notice.

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Local pros

Commercial Solar near you

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Related work

Often done at the same time

Solar Battery Installation

Storage for demand management

Solar System Expansion

Adding capacity to an existing array

Solar Maintenance

Operations, monitoring and warranty admin

Solar Panel Repair

Downtime on a revenue-affecting asset

All solar services →

FAQ

Commercial Solar — questions people ask

Still have a question? Talk to our team →

How is commercial solar different from residential?

The tariff, the roof and the ownership structure. Commercial rate schedules typically bill demand — your highest measured power draw in a period — separately from consumption, so the saving analysis has two distinct components. The roof is usually a low-slope membrane system with structural and warranty considerations residential roofs do not have. And the asset is often held through a financing or third-party structure that decides who captures the tax benefits.

Will solar reduce my demand charges?

Less than most proposals imply. Demand charges are set by a short peak, which can occur on a cloudy afternoon, at start-up, or outside daylight hours entirely. Production reduces net demand only when it happens to coincide with your peak. If demand is a large share of your bill, storage with a demand-management controller — or shifting a controllable load — usually addresses it far more directly. Insist on seeing the two analyses separately.

Can I install solar on a leased building?

Yes, with landlord consent and a clear agreement on the points that outlast the lease: who owns the equipment, who receives the benefit of the savings, what happens at expiry, and whether removal and make-good is required. In triple-net structures the party paying for the system and the party receiving the bill reduction may be different, which has to be resolved commercially before it is resolved technically.

What does a commercial solar project do to my roof warranty?

It depends entirely on the membrane manufacturer's programme. Many will maintain coverage where attachment is carried out by an approved contractor using approved details, and will withdraw it otherwise. Ballasted systems avoid penetrations but add considerable dead load, which becomes a structural question instead. Get the manufacturer's written position before the racking method is chosen, not after.

How long does a commercial solar project take?

Considerably longer than the construction period, which is often the shortest part. Interval data analysis, structural engineering, permitting, and above all the utility interconnection study and approval dominate the schedule, and interconnection timelines vary widely by utility, system size and local circuit conditions. Ask your installer for recent completed timelines in the same utility territory rather than a generic programme.

Is a commercial PPA better than owning the system?

It depends on whether your entity can use the tax and depreciation benefits, and on your appetite for a long-term contract. A PPA moves capital cost and maintenance obligation off you, and suits entities that cannot capture the benefits directly. The trade-offs are the escalator, the buyout schedule and the assignment terms if you sell the building. Model the full contract term, not the first-year rate, and take qualified tax advice independently of the developer.