SolarCity announced that Google made a commitment to invest $300 million to its newly created fund that would finance $750 million in residential solar projects.
According to SolarCity, the new fund is the biggest of its kind that was created for residential solar power. The project is also its second partnership with Google. In 2011, the search engine giant provided financing for SolarCity to provide solar power to homeowners.
Google’s largest investment in renewable energy to date
Sidd Mundra, head of renewal energy at Google said, “We’re happy to support SolarCity’s mission to help families reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs. It’s good for the environment, good for families and also makes good business sense.”
Google’s latest financing commitment for SolarCity is its largest investment in renewable energy to date.
SolarCity said the new fund will shoulder the upfront costs if solar panel installations for thousands of homeowners across the 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. By using solar power, homeowners will be save money. The cost of solar power is lesser than the cost of electricity generated by fossil fuels.
SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive said. “Corporations are starting to realize the importance of using clean energy. Historically the companies that have financed solar deployment have been the big financial institutions.”
“We’ve seen the movement in the sector of tech companies getting into the space and helping to transform a dirty infrastructure to a clean infrastructure,” added Rive.
The company received $200 million financing from Credit Suisse Group to support the growth of its MyPower financing vehicle last January.
SolarCity launched solar service in Reno, Nevada
Earlier this month, SolarCity announced the launching of its solar service in Reno, Nevada. The company said it will now be able to install solar panels for homeowners in Reno, Sparks and Carson City without upfront costs.
The rooftop solar power provider estimated that homeowners have the option to go solar for as low as $30 per month, which include design, installation financing, insurance and monitoring
Solar City is expected to open its operations center in Reno by April. The company plans to hire more than 30 people over the next few months.
The company also completed the installation of 10,000 solar panels at the ten acre grounds of MillerCoors in Irwindale, Los Angeles County. It is largest solar project of SolarCity at any brewery in the United States.
