SolarCity announced Wednesday that it has received $200 million “non-recourse financing” from Credit Suisse to keep rolling out its MyPower financing vehicle. It takes the company’s total financing this year to $995 million, reports PV Tech. On January 7, the San Mateo-based company announced that it had secured $350 million financing from JPMorgan. Prior to that, Bank of America Merrill Lynch had committed to provide $400 million to SolarCity through 2015.
MyPower is growing in popularity
SolarCity chief financial officer Brad Buss said that the latest financing from Credit Suisse was first of a large array of financing the company will create to support the growth of MyPower. Credit Suisse acts as sole administrative agent and structuring agent, while U.S. Bank serves as the trustee for the financing facility. When Credit Suisse’s financing is fully deployed, the residential solar installer plans to refinance the facility in the securitization market.
Launched in October last year, SolarCity’s MyPower plan has become wildly popular in just three months. The company said more than 8,000 customers have signed up for the program. MyPower allows homeowners to retain solar systems rather than leasing it. However, MyPower customers pay SolarCity the same way power purchase agreement (PPA) customers do: based on the electricity the system produces.
SolarCity launches Homebuilder program on the East Coast
Separately, SolarCity said Thursday that it has launched its Homebuilder program on the East Coast. The program is active in seven East Coast states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. Homebuilders across the East Coast can join hands with SolarCity to offer affordable, clean energy to new home communities.
About a dozen homebuilders including Baldwin Homes and Brookfield Residential have already partnered with SolarCity to provide solar power to homebuyers. The company’s Homebuilder program is already quite popular on the West Coast. SolarCity provides homebuilders full-service solar solutions including installation, customer service, real-time monitoring, repairs, and insurance.
SolarCity shares fell 1.85% to $50.76 at 11:32 AM EST on Thursday.
