Leased rooftops – a space for the construction of solar power plants by power producers?

11.03.2024.

Excluding prosumers, in practice, we have not encountered significant projects developed by power producers for the construction of solar power plants on the free space of rooftops of buildings, industrial plants, warehouses, shopping centers, and other facilities.

It is possible to imagine a situation where the owners of buildings are unable to or are not interested in producing electricity from renewable sources. On the other hand, there is great interest from investors in this area, who are mostly focused on considering the construction of solar power plants on agricultural land.

Considerations of newer models of the development of this economic activity have begun to appear in practice, namely the consideration of leasing free rooftops for the construction of solar power plants and the production of electricity from renewable sources. This appears to be an interesting and very useful business model considering that it would reduce the occupation of agricultural and forest land, which is certainly an important component for our country.

The key issue is whether an investor in the construction of a solar power plant as a future power producer from renewable sources can be a lessee of someone else’s rooftop. In other words, it is required that the owner of the building on whose rooftop a solar power plant would be built must also be a power producer.

Reviewing and understanding the current framework, one can conclude that this way of regulating relationships is not prohibited. However, the question arises as to whether the contract for the lease of a rooftop would be considered an appropriate basis in terms of obtaining a building permit. The existing legal solutions primarily focus on the ownership or lease of land or buildings. However, new technology and solutions bring with them the need for a new way of arranging certain relationships that would enable the further development of the use of renewable energy sources, as a priority not only here but in the world.

We do not see any impediment to accepting the rooftop lease agreement concluded between the owner of the building who does not wish to be a power producer as a lessor and the investor of the construction of a solar power plant as a future power producer as a lessee, as a basis for a valid arrangement of relations suitable for the obtaining of a building permit by the lessee, i.e the future power producer from a renewable source.

This will ultimately be left to the consideration and final decision of each competent authority responsible for the issuing of building permits.

For more information, contact us at selma.mujezinovic@ksel.rs and andreja.vrazalic@ksel.rs