New apartment being built in Kyoto will have solar panels. How does that work?

We reserved a 2LDK unit in Kyoto that we can move into in Q1 of 2024.

The new apartment has amenities like video doorbell, aircon, fiber internet included.

But they also will have solar panels on the apartment. From what our sales rep said, we have the ability to have our electricity pull from the solar panels and excess to be sold back to the grid.

I understand the concept for a house where you own the whole roof.

Does anyone else live in an apartment with solar panels?

How does this work? Is it pooled? Are you given a specific section?

8 comments
  1. My mansion has solar panels but for heating water, not electricity. So I don’t subscribe to Tokyo Suido but get my water billed directly by the management company together with the 管理費.

    You’ll probably have some similar deal and if there is any profit it would be redistributed based on apartment size (same as with costs).

  2. Interesting scenario, and I guess it’s going to become more common when the new national building standards come into effect shortly.

    As for whether you’re assigned specific panels, I guess it depends on the ratio of apartments vs roof area. I imagine having them all pooled together and usage brokered between apartments would be the more eco-friendly option though.

    Curious to hear whether others know more on this too.

  3. At my building we have shared solar panels that offset electricity used for the common spaces. Presumably they reduce the monthly maintenance fees we all have to pay.

    I have heard that some buildings have individual solar panels on the shared roof that can be “purchased” by unit owners. Usually there’s only a limited number of panels available for purchase, and the unit owners are offered to buy them according to some sort of priority.

  4. You can mount panels vertically. I’m guessing they’ll have an array on one of the side walls.

  5. …i was looking into solar mansions here in Ibaraki. The one i found had the solar energy savings pooled into the common areas, it gave all tenants a lower yearly maintenance fee. If there was a surplus, each apartment had a % paid for by usage.

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