Exploiting your building’s rooftop or transforming a “blocked” land. Why it makes sense now.

The Romanian Photovoltaic market is at its peak. The interest is huge and all European players (plus Chinese, Indian, Arabs and many more) are filling up the flights to Romania, searching for the right opportunities to invest, construct or sell their products. This situation has led to the explosion of the expectations of all local players involved. Some of them already behave like the former Real Estate “small gods” of 2006 – 2008, copying their mistakes and risking loses, despite the excellent opportunities that they have today.

But let us leave aside the aggressive speculation, the arrogance and the wrong behavior. All these people will pay for their mistakes. If we freeze the picture and study it without feelings, we will notice that this period is also promising for 2 categories of Real Estate owners:

1.      The ones who own a building with a rooftop that is unexploited.

2.      The ones who have remained with “blocked” land investments.

Photovoltaic plants on rooftops

A plus to your income, a minus to your expenses

An industrial building, warehouse, retail property or any other large surface may be suitable to host a photovoltaic plant on its rooftop. In case the feasibility study shows that no serious reinforcement is needed and other technical conditions are met, the owner of the rooftop has much to gain:

·         Steady income for 15 plus 10 years

·         High yields, difficult to reach through other investments

·         Energy Independence

·         Upgraded infrastructure

·         Points that transform his building into a “green” one (mandatory by 2020)

·         At the same time, reduced production costs, higher competitiveness.

4 steps to accomplish it

In order to successfully build a Photovoltaic Plant on your rooftop, you should take into consideration that there are more or less four steps to follow:

A. Pre – feasibility study: This will determine if your project is feasible or not, any hidden costs, the connection to the grid etc.

B. Development – licensing: Tens of documents have to be issued: the technical project, feasibility study etc. It is not difficult but not easy either.

C. Construction: Countless people may tell you that “they can do it as well”. But if you ask for guarantees and warrantees, most of them will disappear.

D. Operation + Maintenance: If you don’t assign this task to experts, you might have many negative surprises.

A “blocked” land, transformed into a source of income

A similar procedure may be followed for the lands which were bought in the past and now remain unexploited and blocked, piling expenses for their owners.

This property may host a Photovoltaic Plant project. Once you develop it in 4 – 6 months’ time, having paid for a minor investment you will be able to have 4 options to choose from:

1.      Sell the project once it is “Ready to Build” and multiply the investment for development.

2.      Go for a “Forward Sale”, securing the sale of your project in advance.

3.      Remain a minority partner together with an investor, securing significant income for the next 15 + 10 years.

4.      Get financing and construct it by yourself. Like this you will benefit the most from the project, by receiving all the income or selling it as an investment product.

The following months will be critical for any investment in the Photovoltaic sector. This is why several rooftop or land owners verify their property’s potential. This way they will know if they can take advantage of the momentum or not.

PS. It took me months to find, choose and form a team of experts who can guarantee the serious development of a project in order to offer this service to my clients. I lost money before finding the right ones. Don’t believe that “anyone with some connections” can do it.

A good photovoltaic project is something that will pass a strict Due Diligence successfully and will be ready to be constructed, matching the expectations of the investor and his EPC.