New financing initiative aims to drive adoption of domestic solar panels
A consortium of solar power financiers will today launch a $5m loan scheme in Connecticut that uses crowdsourcing to raise funding and, like the UK's Green Deal, invites customers to take advantage of resulting energy bill savings to cover the cost of installations.
Connecticut's green bank, the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA), crowdsourcing company Mosaic, and Sungage Financial will launch the fund, which will be initially backed by $5m from CEFIA with further funds expected to be raised through crowdsourcing.
Investments in the loan pool will be offered to investors through Mosaic with a
15-‐year term and yields of around five per cent.
Sylvain Mansier, co-founder of Sungage Financial, which designed the loan product, said the scheme represents the next generation of solar financing. "This partnership is creating an entirely new ecosystem for solar financing in which individuals can take part in and benefit from home solar installations," he said.
The loan facility was launched after US solar financing company Sunrun this week acquired a host of businesses, including residential installer REC Solar, equipment distributor AEE Solar, and mounting systems business SnapNrack.
"This development propels our company into the next stage of growth in our multi-channel strategy because it allows us to bring affordable solar energy to more consumers across the country," said Sunrun co-founder Lynn Jurich on the company's official blog.
