Does solar make sense on a large industrial roof?

The physical case for solar on industrial buildings is strong. Warehouse and factory roofs are typically large, unshaded and structurally capable of carrying panels, and the businesses operating beneath them often use significant power during daylight hours — which means generated electricity is more likely to be used on-site rather than exported, improving the economics compared with a building that's largely empty during the day.

The commercial case is more nuanced. In a standard net lease, the tenant pays for power and would capture the savings from solar generation, but the landlord owns the roof and typically funds the capital works — which can create a mismatch in who benefits versus who pays, unless the lease or a separate agreement addresses it directly. Shorter leases compound the issue, since a system with a multi-year payback period is a harder investment to justify against uncertain tenure.

This is exactly where a long-term, permanent-hold owner has an advantage over a shorter-term investor: with tenants on long leases and no intention to sell, the owner can justify capital works like solar that pay back over years, and structure the arrangement so both landlord and tenant share in the benefit. It's one of the practical ways reinvestment shows up over the life of a building rather than only at the point of sale.