Fix What Your Building Pays for Electricity. Convert the Parking Lot or Roof Into a Separate Income Source.
Plankton Energy develops, builds, and operates commercial solar for office buildings, retail properties, grocery stores, mixed-use commercial, and self-storage. Reduce operating expenses on a PPA, generate lease income through community solar, or own the system outright. Structure matched to your property's situation.
- Reduce what your building pays for electricity at a fixed rate below the utility tariff, for the full contract term
- Convert rooftop and parking lot space into a productive income-generating asset through a community solar Site Lease
- Improve net operating income and ESG performance without capital outlay under a PPA or Site Lease structure
- Clients are always contracted with a Plankton entity. Plankton remains the O&M operator throughout the agreement.
A quick note before you submit: Plankton works on commercial-scale projects. Properties with rooftops under 10,000 sq ft or parking lots under 25,000 sq ft fall outside our current programs.
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We are not a good fit at this time. We work on commercial projects with a rooftop above 10,000 sq ft or a parking lot above 25,000 sq ft.
Commercial Solar on Office and Retail Properties. Operating and Producing Now.
1,798 kW Hybrid Rooftop and Canopy System
641 kW Rooftop Solar System
544 kW Rooftop Community Solar
302 kW Rooftop Direct Purchase
Three Reasons Commercial Property Owners Haven't Moved Forward. All Three Are Solvable.
Most office and retail property owners who have looked at solar before walked away for one of these reasons. The right structure resolves all three.
Capital Budget Not Available
The proposal required capital the ownership group couldn't allocate in the current cycle. Neither a PPA nor a Site Lease requires capital. Plankton finances, installs, and operates under both structures. The property owner reduces expenses or generates income from day one without any capital commitment.
Tenant Disruption Concern
Office and retail owners with occupied buildings worry about disrupting tenants during installation. Plankton coordinates construction scheduling around lease obligations, parking access, and building operations. The Newton 85 Wells Avenue project involved an occupied Class A office park with active tenants throughout construction.
Previous Proposal Didn't Add Up
A prior developer's projection looked strong in year one and fell apart under scrutiny. Escalator clauses crossing the utility rate by year ten. Offset assumptions that didn't match the building's actual load. The portfolio assessment produces a property-specific model built around your actual consumption and utility territory, not a national template.
Three Structures. One Developer for All Three.
Plankton is structure-agnostic. The portfolio assessment identifies which option fits your property based on your ownership situation, tax position, and whether your priority is reducing expenses, generating income, or capturing maximum financial return.
Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
Plankton owns and operates the system. The building purchases electricity from Plankton at a fixed rate below the utility tariff. No capital, no maintenance, predictable energy costs for the contract term. Reduces operating expenses and improves NOI. Plankton captures the federal ITC as system owner. ShopRite Elmsford and 85 Wells Avenue rooftop are both PPA structures.
Site Lease, Community Solar
Plankton rents the rooftop or parking lot, develops and operates a community solar project, and sells electricity to subscribers. The property owner receives fixed annual lease payments for the full contract term with no capital, no operational involvement, and no impact on building operations. The 544 kW Waltham office building is structured this way, lease income from an otherwise idle rooftop.
Direct Purchase
The ownership group buys the system and captures the full economic benefit: utility savings, lifetime energy production, the 30% federal ITC, and MACRS accelerated depreciation. Maximizes long-term return but requires capital and tax appetite. The Burlington EQR office project is a customer-owned system structured this way.
What Commercial Solar Looks Like in Each Active Market
Incentive stacks, utility timelines, and interconnection processes vary significantly by state. Generic proposals built from national averages fail because of that variation. Here is what applies to office and retail properties in each market where Plankton's pipeline is active.
Massachusetts
SMART 3.0 provides fixed per-kWh payments determined annually. The 85 Wells Avenue project in Newton demonstrates the dual-structure model: PPA on the rooftop, community solar Site Lease on the parking canopy, producing two financial outcomes from one property. Eversource and National Grid interconnection timelines are among the most complex in the Northeast.
New Jersey
SuSI ADI pays around $90 per MWh for 15 years, separate from and on top of electricity savings. Plankton has completed retail projects in NJ including the Passaic ShopRite (431 kW PPA) and the Cinnaminson self-storage facility (449 kW PPA). Stacked on the 30% ITC and MACRS, NJ has one of the stronger commercial incentive packages in the Northeast.
California
NEM 3.0 makes daytime electricity load the primary economic driver. Retail with refrigeration, grocery, and office with full weekday occupancy are the strongest CA candidates. The 30% ITC and MACRS are the primary financial levers. PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E each carry different interconnection timelines and our team carries territory-specific knowledge across all three.
Rhode Island
REF grants provide upfront project cost reduction for systems up to 1 MW. Virtual net metering lets multi-location retail operators apply generation credits across properties under the same ownership. National Grid RI interconnection benefits from the same utility knowledge applied across the Northeast.
New York Metro
NY-Sun C&I pays upfront per watt. The ShopRite Elmsford project in Westchester is a 641 kW active Plankton portfolio example, saving the grocery store more than $1.8 million over the system's life. VDER credits provide ongoing value for exported generation. Con Ed and National Grid NY interconnection filed and coordinated across the metro area.
Plankton Is Always the Contracted Entity. Plankton Remains the O&M Operator for the Full Term.
Most solar deals run through a developer who sells, a financier who buys, and a servicer who operates. Three different counterparties over 20 years. Plankton develops, builds, and operates every system. The client is always contracted with a Plankton entity. When Plankton owns a project, ownership sits inside a Plankton investment fund with an approximate 7 to 10 year life. At that point, the asset will most likely move to another Plankton fund. What does not change: the contract is never flipped to an outside party, and Plankton remains the O&M operator regardless of which internal fund holds the asset. The client remains contracted with a Plankton entity throughout.
Portfolio Assessment
Our development team reviews your property, utility territory, and ownership structure. You receive a property-specific financial model showing what PPA, Site Lease, and Direct Purchase each look like for your building. Delivered in less than a month.
Engineering and Interconnection
Our internal team manages structural review, permitting, and utility interconnection from day one. Construction is coordinated around tenant obligations and building operations. No filing and waiting, utility-specific knowledge applied throughout the filing process.
Installation and Long-Term Operation
We build with our own EPC team and manage operations for the full contract term. The property generates income or reduces costs from day one, and Plankton handles system performance throughout.
30% Federal ITC, Active Through December 31, 2027
The Investment Tax Credit under Section 48E is preserved for commercial solar projects placed in service by December 31, 2027. For Direct Purchase structures, this applies directly to the property owner. For PPA and Site Lease, Plankton captures the credit as system owner. The portfolio assessment will identify which structure fits your property and where your project stands relative to that deadline based on your utility territory and roof situation.
Request Portfolio Assessment