In short
- Solar works on a leased building. The hard part isn't the roof, it's agreeing who pays for the system and who gets the saving.
- Three arrangements cover nearly every case: the tenant pays and saves, the landlord pays and sells the power to the tenant, or a third party owns the system and both sides buy from it.
- Get the arrangement into the lease in writing before anyone orders panels: ownership, access, what happens at the end of the term, and who fixes the roof.
Solar on a leased commercial building in Australia pays the same way it does on an owned one: the building uses power it would otherwise buy. The difference is that the person who owns the roof and the person who pays the bill are usually not the same. Once you decide who pays for the system and who gets the saving, the rest is an ordinary commercial solar job. Nothing on this page is legal advice; your lease and your lawyer decide the detail.
| Quick facts | Solar on a leased building |
|---|---|
| Who needs to agree | the roof owner and whoever pays the electricity bill |
| Three common arrangements | tenant owns · landlord owns and sells the power · third party owns |
| The lease must cover | ownership, access, roof repair, end of term, what happens on sale |
| Multi-tenant buildings | often an embedded network, with the owner buying at one meter |
| What to send | one recent bill for the meter in question; we get the interval data from it |
Who should pay for the system?
Whoever benefits for long enough to pay it back. Three arrangements cover nearly every case.
1. The tenant pays and keeps the saving
The simplest when the lease has years left. The tenant funds the system, the bill falls, and the payback is the usual two to four years. The risks are the lease ending before payback and the question of what happens to the panels afterwards. Lease terms sometimes treat anything fixed to the building as the landlord's at the end of the term. So the lease, or a side agreement, needs to say who owns the system, whether the tenant can remove it, and whether the landlord pays something for it if it stays.
2. The landlord pays and sells the power
The landlord funds the system and sells the solar power to the tenant at a rate below the grid. The tenant's bill falls without them spending anything, and the landlord gets a return on the roof and a building that is easier to let. This is the usual arrangement in multi-tenant buildings. The landlord needs to be able to meter and bill the solar, which is straightforward if the building already runs an embedded network and a new step if it doesn't. Victoria publishes landlord and tenant guidelines and a consent form for its business solar program, which is a useful template for the conversation even outside Victoria.
3. A third party owns it
A solar company or financier owns the system on the roof and sells the power under a power purchase agreement, or leases the system to the tenant. Nobody on site puts up capital. The price per kWh is set in the contract for ten to twenty years, and the contract needs to deal with the tenant leaving, the building being sold, and the roof needing work. Commercial solar finance compares a loan, a lease and a power purchase agreement.
How much is at stake? A worked example
Made-up figures. These are example figures, not our prices or a real site.
A leased Brisbane warehouse puts in a 100kW system. It makes about 145,000 kWh a year at the cost page's example output, and the tenant's day-shift operation uses about 78% of it.
- At $0.28 for each kWh no longer bought and $0.05 for exports: 113,100 kWh × $0.28 = $31,668, plus 31,900 kWh × $0.05 = $1,595. Yearly saving $33,263.
- At the example price of $73,000 after the STC discount, that is a 2.2-year payback for whoever pays.
Now split it. Say the landlord pays and sells the solar power to the tenant at $0.20 a kWh:
- The tenant saves $0.08 on 113,100 kWh, about $9,000 a year, with no outlay.
- The landlord earns $0.20 × 113,100 = $22,620, plus $1,595 in exports: about $24,200 a year, a 3.0-year payback on $73,000, and then income for the life of the system.
Change the rate and the split moves. That rate is the negotiation, and both sides should see the same interval data when they set it.
Multi-tenant buildings and embedded networks
Office buildings, industrial estates and centres with several tenants often buy power at one gate meter and bill tenants through the owner's own child meters. That is an embedded network, and it changes two things. The owner is the one who can put solar behind the gate meter and spread the saving across every tenant. And the tenants' "retailer" is the owner, so the solar rate they pay is set in the tenancy, not by the market. If your building works this way, the solar conversation is with the owner or the building's energy manager, and the owner needs one recent bill for the gate meter to start.
A building where each tenant has its own NMI and its own retailer is simpler. Each tenancy is a separate solar site, and the only shared question is the roof.
What the lease should say
Before anyone orders panels, get these into the lease or a written side agreement. Your lawyer drafts it; this is the checklist.
- Ownership of the system during the term and at the end of it
- Access for installation, maintenance and network inspections
- The roof: who checks it is sound, who warrants the penetrations, and who pays for roof work later
- Insurance for the system and for damage to the building
- The power rate if the landlord or a third party sells the solar, and how it changes over time
- End of term: does the system stay, is it bought out, or is it removed and the roof made good
- Sale of the building: the arrangement should bind a new owner
- Network approval: who signs the connection application; it is usually the account holder for the meter
What does each state offer?
The federal STC discount applies everywhere, and since 1 October 2026 it covers eligible systems up to 1MW. The STCs go to whoever owns the system. The states add little for solar.
| State | What matters on a leased building |
|---|---|
| VIC | Victorian Energy Upgrades gives an upfront discount on business solar systems between 30kW and 200kW. Solar Victoria publishes landlord and tenant guidelines and a consent form for business solar. |
| NSW | No rebate on solar. The Peak Demand Reduction Scheme discounts batteries from 20 kWh. |
| QLD | No state rebate for commercial solar. Feed-in credits in the south-east are set by retailers. |
| SA | No state rebate. Export value is weak, so size to what the building uses. |
| WA | No state rebate, and the buyback scheme doesn't cover commercial systems. |
We haven't checked the ACT, Tasmania or the Northern Territory for this page. Full detail and dates are on commercial solar rebates. The ATO's instant asset write-off may apply to whichever eligible small business owns the system; your accountant decides.
What should you send for a proposal?
Just one recent bill, every page, for the meter the solar would sit behind. Using the NMI on it, the team gets the interval data for that meter, which shows when the building draws power and how much a system would be used on site. You don't need to request anything from your retailer. If the building runs an embedded network, the gate-meter bill is the one to send.
If you know them, these help too. Mention them in the form:
- The lease: years left, who controls the roof, and whether the landlord has been approached
- Who pays: tenant, landlord or a third party, if you already know
- The building: single tenant or several, and whether tenants have their own meters
- Roof: age, type and any planned works
What to ask your installer
- Who will own the system, and has that been written into the lease?
- How much of the solar will the building use, from the interval data, and at what rate does it save?
- Who signs the network connection application, and whose name is on the meter?
- Who warrants the roof penetrations, and for how long?
- If a third party owns the system, what does the contract say about the tenant leaving or the building being sold?
The interval data behind the bill is the same whoever pays, and it is the right starting point for the landlord and tenant conversation. Send a bill and an accredited installer prepares a costed proposal sized to how the building uses power. It's free, with no obligation. Already have a quote? Compare it line by line with our checklist.