What's Blocking the Sun? Solar Photovoltaics for the U.S. Commercial Market

This working paper analyzes the investment environment for solar photovoltaic (PV) in the U.S. commercial sector, identifying economic and regulatory barriers that hinder widespread adoption despite the sector's significant electricity consumption and available roof space.

• The U.S. commercial sector represents a significant opportunity for solar PV growth because businesses in this sector account for 36 percent of national electricity consumption and possess vast roof prints suitable for large-scale installations.
• Solar PV adoption in the commercial sector is highly geographically concentrated, with over 90 percent of installed capacity located in only five states. Installations are primarily found in states that offer strong financial incentives and lack regulatory barriers to distributed generation.
• Commercial solar PV investments have performed worse than the residential market during the economic downturn of the two years preceding the paper. While the policy landscape improved after 2008, federal support after 2010 is less certain and state-level regulatory barriers persist.
• Solar PV has not yet achieved cost parity with traditional power generation in the absence of a carbon price, although costs are expected to decline toward grid parity. The paper identifies economic and regulatory hurdles and suggests solutions such as regulatory reform, demand aggregation, new financing mechanisms, and public R&D investment.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). What's Blocking the Sun? Solar Photovoltaics for the U.S. Commercial Market. https://www.wri.org/research/whats-blocking-sun-solar-photovoltaics-us-commercial-market

Chicago

World Resources Institute. What's Blocking the Sun? Solar Photovoltaics for the U.S. Commercial Market. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/whats-blocking-sun-solar-photovoltaics-us-commercial-market.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=What's Blocking the Sun? Solar Photovoltaics for the U.S. Commercial Market |url=https://www.wri.org/research/whats-blocking-sun-solar-photovoltaics-us-commercial-market |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendwhats, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{What's Blocking the Sun? Solar Photovoltaics for the U.S. Commercial Market}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/whats-blocking-sun-solar-photovoltaics-us-commercial-market}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }