SolarCity, Bank of America mount $200mn solar push

OREANDA-NEWS. May 29, 2015. SolarCity and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BA) today unveiled a \\$200mn renewable tax equity fund directed at attracting investors to support solar development.

The \\$200mn fund is designed to attract investors who can put in a maximum of \\$20-25mn, which is smaller than investments made by larger institutional investors.

The fund's financing will cover the capital costs of new solar equipment and installation, making it more affordable for homeowners to pay for the electricity their system produces, often at a lower rate than their local utility charges, SolarCity said.

For Bank of America, the new fund grows on an existing relationship with SolarCity now totaling about \\$850mn in financing for residential solar investments in three funds, including \\$250mn directed at 200MW of distributed solar and a \\$400mn tax equity fund. Both launched last year.

Partnerships with institutional investors and corporations has led to about \\$8bn in total funding for residential solar projects, SolarCity said. The company in addition to BA has received \\$1bn from Credit Suisse, \\$750mn from Google and \\$350mn from JP Morgan, totaling just shy of about \\$3bn since the beginning of the year.