Warehouses now powering homes through rooftop solar

Judith Levine, 79, moved to a condo at the Lumberyard in Collingswood eight years ago from a single-family home in Medford.

Concerned about global warming, she was intrigued by a mailed brochure from Asbury Park-based Solar Landscape in 2021. The brochure said she could receive her electricity at a discount from a nearby solar array.

“I had always lived in a single-family home,” Levine said. “I never knew you could get community solar in a building. So I sent in my application and started on the plan.”

Her power is now earmarked as coming from a rooftop solar array on a warehouse five miles away in Pennsauken as part of New Jersey’s Community Solar Energy Program. The array was installed in 2021 and generates enough electricity to power 128 households.

“It’s been a great program,” Levine said.

Solar arrays are popping up across New Jersey on the big, broad, flat roofs of commercial buildings, turning them into mini power plants. The arrays send energy into the electrical grid for use by nearby residents.

New Jersey began community solar as a pilot program in 2019, and it became permanent in 2023. Currently, the program has about 20,000 subscribers but is being expanded to add 60,000 more by the end of this year or midway through 2025.

About 100 community solar projects are up and running, according to data from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), which manages the program. Another 235 projects were approved in November 2023 but are not yet installed. State projections are for community solar to produce a gigawatt of electricity in coming years, enough to serve 125,000 households.

Under community solar, a renewable energy developer rents the roof of a warehouse, commercial building, or brownfield site. The developer installs the array and makes money by selling the power and from renewable energy credits that can be sold on a state-approved market. The community solar program applies to commercial rooftops, carports and canopies, floating solar, and contaminated sites and landfills.

In turn, the program allows people who can’t install their own solar, either because they live in an apartment, or are a renter, to take part in renewable energy. At least 51% of the power from a solar array gets earmarked for use by low- and moderate-income households.

“New Jersey is the most densely populated state, and open space is at a premium,” said Brendon Shank, executive vice president for engagement at Solar Landscape, the owner of the system from which Levine gets her power.

Rooftop solar arrays are also popping up on Pennsylvania warehouses, but the state has no community solar program equivalent to New Jersey’s that allows residents to access the power. Legislators and advocates are pushing for one.

Shaun Keegan, CEO and founder of Solar Landscape, said New Jersey’s community solar program allows solar developers to bypass an industrial building’s tenant entirely. Previously, solar developers were limited to providing power only to the tenant. But warehouses don’t use that much power, so a lot of the rooftop went unused.

“It prevented us from using the rest of the roof,” Keegan said. “New Jersey is out front in letting developers plug the solar into what we call front of the meter. So you plug directly into the grid.”

Clusters are popping up in South Jersey business parks. For example, one solar developer, Brightcore, has about 19 rooftop arrays on buildings owned by GGC Brennan Industrial in a wedge of Moorestown off Lenola Road, according to a map of community solar projects created by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Some community solar projects are placed on closed landfills. Neighborhood Sun developed the Tri-County Community Solar Farm on a former landfill in Delanco, Burlington County. It started producing power in 2021 and sold out with nearly 500 subscribers, more than half of whom are low to moderate in income and receive a 20% discount on energy. Other subscribers receive a 10% discount.

But 90% of community solar projects are installed on warehouses or commercial rooftops.

Under community solar, energy produced by an array is divided among subscribers. Those subscribers are not directly connected to the array but live in the same utility service area. Public Service Electric & Gas, for example, services Levine’s condo. Subscribers typically see a 15% to 25% discount on their electricity bills.

Subscribers are renters or people like Levine who cannot install a system where they are located. Solar developers are tasked with finding subscribers. However, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, which manages the program, has an online solar finder that allows potential subscribers to search for providers, check to see how much their electricity would be discounted, and how long a subscription contract might run.

Developers are limited to rooftop systems under 5 megawatts, which can power about 1,250 houses, according to the BPU.

David Weissman, managing partner of East Brunswick-based Greek Real Estate Partners, said solar is being installed on the company’s warehouses and commercial buildings throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The company manages 22 million square feet of warehouses.

It rents rooftop space to solar developers such as Solar Landscape. In some cases, Greek Real Estate Partners owns the buildings outright. In other cases, it manages them. Currently Greek Real Estate Partners has about 15 solar projects on its rooftops or in the works. Weissman said the company expects to install solar on most of its new buildings — something he said Fortune 500 companies want.

“It’s been a very successful program in New Jersey,” Weissman said. “It’s a win-win all around, which is why we love it. We’re earning revenue, we’re achieving some of the sustainability initiatives that we have, and we’re also giving back to the community in some way. So it’s a no-brainer.”

As of now, 22 states plus Washington, D.C., have community solar programs. The federal Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is steering billions to subsidize such renewable energy projects and has extended tax credits.

Pennsylvania does have programs designed to encourage boroughs to pursue solar, but there is no community solar program. Currently, Pennsylvania law prohibits shared residences, apartment buildings, or shaded roofs from using solar energy, according to PA Environment Digest.

Advocates such as the nonprofit Vote Solar are backing Bill 1842 in Pennsylvania that would create a community solar energy program. The bill passed the House but needs Senate approval. Elowyn Corby, Mid-Atlantic regional director at Vote Solar, said in a recent briefing that her group’s research showed 81% of Pennsylvanians support rooftop solar.

“Overwhelmingly, this is true on bipartisan lines,” Corby said. “So what’s the problem? Rooftop solar, for all of its benefits, is often inaccessible to the majority of the people. … We need to be explicit about working for an energy transition that doesn’t leave anyone behind. Community solar is one of the best tools for us to do that.”