Google and SunPower partner up on funding home solar roofs
Here comes a $250 million fund to back leases for home solar roofs in the U.S., courtesy of SunPower and Google.
The future of solar financing
The complex world of solar financing has led to some serious startup innovation in the space. But as the sector grows up will it become a vertical or a horizontal play?
What SolarCity’s earnings say about the challenges of building a solar retail business
SolarCity is one of the leaders when it comes to installing solar panels on home owner’s rooftops. But the company’s $31 million loss, in its latest quarter, shows the growing pains for the retail solar players.
Solar financing startup Clean Power Finance raises $37M from Google Ventures, Kleiner
Solar financier Clean Power Finance has raised a large round of $37 million from Valley investors Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures and Claremont Creek. Solar financing and installations are one of the bright spots in the solar sector.
Will NRG Energy be the next ten ton gorilla in solar leases?
If NRG Energy starts offering solar leasing options to home owners and small businesses, it would represent the mainstreaming of solar roofs and also likely disrupt the current sector filled with a variety of smaller players.
Solar as a service dominated the solar roofs built last year in California
Solar-as-a-service is dominating the market for home solar panel systems and the companies that pioneered these financing models are now seeing the pay back for those early moves.
7 projects looking to use big data to cut the cost of solar power
Data analytics will be able to help lower the cost of solar through cutting installation costs, making solar cells more efficient and creating better market mechanisms. Here’s 7 projects that the DOE is funding to use data to make solar cheaper.
Solar panel rooftop startup Sungevity raises a whopping $125 million
Following the IPO of solar installer SolarCity last month, Sungevity announced that it’s raised $125 million in a combo of equity and project financing. The company does sales, marketing, system design, and financing for home solar panel systems, which saw a boom year in 2012.
13 solar startups to watch in 2013
Solar makers are getting squeezed in a difficult global solar market, but the growth of solar panel installations continues to soar. This should all make 2013 a very interesting year for solar startups. Here’s 13 solar startups to watch in 2013:
The hidden pain points holding back solar
Clean Power Finance is releasing a federally-funded survey to quantify the challenges solar installers face when they try to get all the necessary permits to construct solar electric systems and connect them to the local grid.