Community solar needs space to grow. Warehouse rooftops have lots of it.

June 22, 2026

Industrial buildings could host gigawatts of shared solar to deliver low-cost power to underserved urban communities — if states and utilities allow it to scale up.

Warehouse rooftops represent one of the largest untapped solar resources in the country, and community solar programs are emerging as the mechanism that makes them financially viable for building owners. A new piece from Canary Media examines why industrial buildings are well-suited for shared solar and what policy conditions are driving the model forward.

• Most warehouses only need 30 to 40% of their roof space to meet on-site demand, leaving the rest available for community solar that generates rental income for the building owner.
• Community solar resolves the split-incentive problem, converting unused roof space into income rather than relying on tenants to capture the bill savings.
• Solar Landscape is developing approximately 116 megawatts of rooftop community solar with Prologis in New Jersey, part of a broader 198 MW, 45-project pipeline across New Jersey and Illinois.

Nationally, commercial and industrial rooftops could host up to 581 gigawatts of solar capacity, but only a fraction is in use today. States like New Jersey and Maryland are expanding community solar programs to unlock that potential, while California has moved in the opposite direction, with regulators arguing ground-mounted solar is more cost-effective. A Brattle Group analysis commissioned by Solar Landscape pushes back on that framing, finding that rooftop community solar-plus-storage systems in dense urban areas can deliver lower energy and grid costs than remote alternatives.

Read the full article on Canary Media here.

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