What commercial property owners need to know about the requirements in A3352
On November 8, 2021, Assembly Bill 3352 became law. Dubbed “Solar-Ready Roofs”, the law states that warehouses permitted for construction in New Jersey after July 1, 2022, need to meet the requirements of the Solar-Ready Roofs legislation.
The law is part of New Jersey’s efforts to reach 17GW of installed solar by 2035 and 32GW and 100% clean energy by 2050. The requirements to meet Solar-Ready Roofs apply to warehouses of at least 100,000 square feet whose permit applications have not been declared complete by the applicable permitting office before July 1, 2022.
If your future warehouse meets the above requirements, then at least 40% of the roof area, including building overhangs, will need to be solar-ready. Skylights, occupied roof decks, vegetative roof areas, and mandatory access or setback areas required by the state UCC are not included in the calculation of the 40% of roof area.
Adding solar to your warehouse can significantly help your budget by curtailing rising energy costs and giving you energy cost certainty via a Power Purchase Agreement.
Mike McGuinness, chief executive of NAIOP New Jersey, a trade association for commercial real estate developers recently told NJ Spotlight News that warehouses with solar-ready roofs are easier to lease than those without.
How to ensure your roof is solar-ready
We highly recommend you bring in an experienced solar expert early in the design phase of your warehouse. A solar expert can help with siting to ensure strong energy harvest when solar is installed, will work with your design team through the engineering process, and will help design electrical connections to allow for the most efficient integration of solar on your roof. Of course, reach out to the Infiniti Energy team with questions or engineering assistance.
When to begin thinking about solar-ready roof requirements
As noted above, designing a solar roof early will save you money on retrofitting and will help ensure energy costs are met with the best siting possible. Best of all, by incorporating an experienced solar power developer in the design/build process, meeting the requirements of A3352 will add no significant time to your existing build schedule. The time to discuss solar-ready roofs is now.