Path-Q Solar
How should a landlord compare solar designs when one preserves an existing export arrangement and another requires a new grid review?
Answer
Compare the designs using the after-tax, after-fee value of the existing export arrangement against the cost, delay, uncertainty, and possible operational benefits of the new grid review. Preservation may reduce approval risk, but it is not automatically better if the alternative enables substantially higher self-consumption or capacity.
Key points
- Confirm the exact duration, transferability, rate treatment, capacity limits, and termination conditions of the existing arrangement.
- Model self-consumption, exports, curtailment, demand effects, fixed charges, and any required equipment under both designs.
- Include deposits, study costs, upgrade costs, delay, and lost production during approval in the new-review case.
- Apply consistent tax assumptions to project costs, export revenue, bill savings, depreciation, incentives, and financing where relevant.
- Check whether system changes could trigger review even if the design is intended to preserve the current arrangement.
What it depends on
- Current utility arrangement and tariff
- Approved export and inverter capacity
- Proposed system configuration
- Load profile and export volume
- Utility review requirements and timeline
- Applicable tax treatment and the landlord's tax assumptions
Risks and trade-offs
- An existing arrangement may be valuable but vulnerable to modification, transfer, or project changes.
- A new review may produce unexpected upgrade costs or limits.
- A design optimized to preserve export rights may sacrifice system size, flexibility, or self-consumption.
- Incorrect or inconsistent tax assumptions can materially distort the comparison.
Information you may need
- Current interconnection and export documents
- Historical interval load and generation data
- Both single-line designs and capacity assumptions
- Utility fees, deposits, study requirements, and timelines
- Contract treatment of approval delays and redesigns
- Applicable tax rules and documented assumptions for savings, export income, depreciation, incentives, and project costs
Your next step
What to do next
Obtain written confirmation of the current export arrangement and request a side-by-side financial and approval-risk model for both designs using consistent, verified tax assumptions.
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Some details may depend on your location, installer, utility, incentives, regulations, or specific property.
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