Every year, Earth Day serves as a global rallying cry for environmental stewardship — and 2025 is no different. This year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” underscores the urgent need to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. At the heart of this mission is an ambitious goal: to triple global clean electricity generation by 2030.
In the commercial real estate sector, solar photovoltaics (PVs) are emerging as a cornerstone of this transition. Costs are falling, technologies are advancing, and the pressure to act is mounting. But are we moving fast enough? And what hurdles still stand in the way?
Unlocking Solar’s Full Potential
A recent study published in Nature (March 2025) delivered a powerful insight: if PVs were installed on every viable rooftop worldwide, and paired with battery storage, we could generate enough electricity to meet 65% of today’s global demand. More remarkably, this scale of adoption could reduce global temperatures by up to 0.13°C by 2050, as fossil fuels are phased out.
Across the commercial real estate landscape — from office buildings and logistics hubs to shopping centres, car parks, and data centres — rooftops represent vast, often underutilised real estate for clean energy generation. These systems can power operations directly or feed surplus energy back into the grid.
From Rooftops to Solar Skins: A Technological Leap
We’ve moved far beyond the traditional rooftop panel. Enter building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) — a cutting-edge approach that embeds solar technology directly into a building’s architecture, from facades to windows to roofs.
One standout example is Australia’s first “solar skin” office building, set to complete in 2026. This eight-storey Melbourne development will generate 50 times more power than the average rooftop array, offsetting nearly all of its energy use.
Across the Pacific, Google’s Bay View campus in California, completed in 2022, features a similarly futuristic “solar skin” roof — supplying around 40% of the facility’s energy needs.
Meanwhile, the innovation race continues. Ultra-thin silicon PVs — now in development — promise to double the efficiency of today’s most common solar technologies, potentially transforming how buildings are powered and designed.
Demand Is Growing — Fast
The push for solar is gaining momentum across the globe, driven by a mix of investor expectations, tenant demand, and tightening regulation.
Commercial tenants and institutional investors are prioritising properties with built-in PVs to manage energy costs and meet ambitious net-zero targets. In some retail developments, solar credentials are now showcased directly to the public, elevating sustainability to a central brand message.
Policy is playing a major role too. The European Union will require all new commercial buildings over 250 sq m to include PVs by 2029. Similar mandates are under discussion in the UK. Meanwhile, in the United States, progressive states are going even further — Maryland, for example, already mandates PV installation on qualifying new commercial properties.
The Gridlock Holding Us Back
However, while the appetite for solar is growing, the infrastructure to support it is lagging behind.
A major roadblock is the ageing grid infrastructure, which was originally designed for centralised fossil fuel power and struggles to accommodate today’s more decentralised, intermittent renewable inputs. Without urgent upgrades, the full promise of solar cannot be realised.
Permitting and connection delays further exacerbate the problem. In the UK, developers have faced wait times of up to 15 years to connect to the grid — though reforms announced in April aim to address this. Globally, streamlining these processes is essential to unlocking solar’s true potential.
Time to Power Up
Earth Day 2025 is a stark reminder that climate action cannot wait. To meet global goals, we must move swiftly — and solar is one of the most scalable, cost-effective solutions at our disposal.
The good news? Technology is rapidly evolving. The tools we need to transform our buildings into clean energy hubs are already here — or just around the corner.
The challenge now is one of ambition and alignment. Landlords, developers, tenants, investors, and policymakers all have a role to play. If we harness our collective power, we can build not just greener buildings — but a more sustainable future for our planet.
