$1 Billion Solar Energy Project Targets US Military

By DONNA HOWELL, INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY Posted 01:54 PM ET

Can offered to a troops significantly boost home solar appetite installations?

A vast bank and a No. 1 U.S. residential solar installer are about to find out, even as collection of a solar attention face unbending conduct winds.

On Wednesday, Bank of America‘s (BAC) Merrill Lynch section and SolarCity announced that they’ve concluded on financing terms to put as most as 300 megawatts of solar panels on as many as 120,000 troops housing units during bases opposite a nation. Called SolarStrong, a five-year devise is billed as potentially a largest residential solar plan in U.S. story and value some-more than $1 billion.

The series of U.S. residential solar installations is rising, and took a vast step adult with a BofA project. View Enlarged Image

Privately hold SolarCity and BofA practical for a U.S. loan pledge though couldn’t get one before a module deadline in September. The span went forward with their skeleton anyway. They’re rounding adult equity investors who can use a 30% solar taxation credit to equivalent increase on a taxation return. There also will be less-costly debt lending, only from Merrill.

“Equity alone we don’t trust can hoop a vast expansion intensity in a distributed solar space — adding debt to a brew is important,” pronounced Jonathan Plowe, conduct of new appetite and infrastructure solutions during BofA Merrill. “We now have a business indication that works though a supervision pledge … a year ago it wasn’t probable to do that, there weren’t financing collection available.”

Plowe says BofA’s work on one before solar plan this year — that did get a pledge — helped a bank rise financing tools.

SolarCity now has 16 plan supports with 8 partners — including banks, utilities and Google (GOOG) — totaling some-more than $1.75 billion in financing. These compensate for solar panels from providers such as First Solar (FSLR), Yingli Green Energy (YGE), Kyocera (KYO) and Sharp (SHCAY) that SolarCity installs on residence rooftops. The association provides zero down “solar leases” to homeowners who compensate behind over time as their new solar systems save income vs. aged electric bills.

SolarStrong will work a small differently. SolarCity skeleton partnerships with private troops housing developers who would possess and work a rooftop solar installations, providing electricity during a lower-than-utility-power cost to troops families who typically lease their homes.

“They furnish electricity for a whole community, so if that home is empty it is still producing electricity for a base,” pronounced Lyndon Rive, CEO of San Mateo, Calif.-based SolarCity. The privatized troops housing companies will need to get troops bases to pointer off on a projects.

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$1 Billion Solar Energy Project Targets US Military

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