Thursday, October 28, 2010

SunRun Gets Financing for 1,900 Residential Solar Installations

Residential Solar company SunRun is not your typical solar panel installer. Rather, it's a distributed utility company. They don't sell you the panels on your rooftop, they sell you the electricity these panels produce, at a fixed rate, and are responsible for the maintenance of the panels. They foot the bill, and save you the $15,000 to $45,000 it takes to buy and install the panels; but they have to finance it somehow.

To date SunRun has financed over 6,000 residential installations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. With the new money, they're ready to finance 1,900 more. The new money is the 4th time US Bancorp bankrolls SunRun. US Bancorp and other backers have provided SunRun almost $400 million in financing since 2007.

"We are the only home solar company to have enjoyed an uninterrupted source of project financing, and this steady stream of capital speaks directly to our credibility as a reliable and risk-free alternative to the utility," said SunRun CEO and Co-founder Edward Fenster. "U.S. Bancorp has been a fantastic long-term partner and instrumental in helping SunRun provide affordable and hassle-free solar to thousands of homeowners."

SunRun's growth is phenomenal: 300% year over year. SunRun has about 75 employees, and has a network of 2,500 local installers that employ a total of 2,500 employees.