The Client
A downtown landmark with an underused roof
Rebees manages GreenStreet, a mixed-use retail, dining and entertainment property in the heart of downtown Houston. Like a lot of urban commercial buildings, it had a large, flat roof doing nothing but collecting sun.
The ownership group wanted that roof generating electricity for the property’s common areas: the shared lighting, systems and spaces the landlord pays to power directly. They brought NATiVE in as the full EPC, from site assessment and engineering through permitting, CenterPoint interconnection, installation and commissioning.
The Challenge
Hurricane-country wind loads, a shared meter room and a downtown grid
GreenStreet stacks up three complications most rooftop projects only face one at a time. The site sits in a hurricane-prone region with the roof roughly 58 feet up, so the array had to be engineered for a 134 mph design wind speed without overloading the existing roof or riddling its membrane with penetrations.
The common-area service lives in a shared meter room fed straight from a CenterPoint vault, next to switchgear serving the property’s major tenants. Adding a second power source there meant working inside NEC 705.12 busbar limits and the ratings of existing equipment. And because the building sits in CenterPoint’s downtown loop, the interconnection needed a utility study and additional disconnecting means before CenterPoint would sign off.
By the Numbers
System specifications
| Component | Detail |
|---|---|
| PV system | |
| System size | 83.78 kW DC / 80 kW AC |
| Modules | (142) SEG Solar SEG-590-BTA-BG, 590 W |
| Inverters | (2) SolarEdge SE40KUS with module-level power optimizers |
| Racking | PanelClaw clawFRplus 10° dual tilt, ballasted with mechanical attachments |
| Orientation | East–west (125° / 305°), approx. 9° tilt |
| Roof & structure | |
| Roof | Low-slope single-ply membrane over concrete deck, approx. 58 ft above grade |
| Wind design | 134 mph, Exposure C, Risk Category II (ASCE 7-22) |
| Attachments | (45) U-Anchor 2400 mounts, heat-welded to the membrane |
| Added roof load | 7.83 psf average, 8.50 psf worst-case bay |
| Electrical & interconnection | |
| Service | 480Y/277 V, three-phase, house (common-area) meter |
| Point of interconnection | 400 A house panel via new 125 A PV aggregation panel and 200 A fused, lockable PV disconnect |
| Utility | CenterPoint Energy |
| Permission to operate | July 3, 2026 |
| Warranty | 10-year NATiVE workmanship warranty plus manufacturer equipment warranties |
How It Came Together
Project timeline
Project gallery
Why It Matters
Downtown rooftops are some of Houston’s most underused energy real estate
Large, flat roofs in dense urban cores often get written off for solar: too much wind exposure, crowded electrical rooms and stricter utility review. GreenStreet shows they can work when the engineering comes first, with structural loads, wind design, busbar math and utility requirements settled before equipment is ordered.
For property owners and managers, a common-area system like this one can offset part of the electricity the landlord pays for directly and may reduce exposure to volatile energy costs over the life of the building. See how we approach commercial solar, our long-term service and O&M support, and more of our work across Houston and the Gulf Coast.
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