Friday 17 May 2013

Goldman Sachs to finance $500m in solar projects

Global investment banking firm Goldman Sachs is backing a $500 million (£326.7m) fund for PV projects in the US - believed to be the “largest” rooftop solar financing agreement in the country.

The fund will help install around 110MW of rooftop solar installations in California, Arizona and other states where renewable company SolarCity operates. Homes and businesses will be able to install PV arrays with no upfront cost and pay less for clean electricity than they currently do.

Stuart Bernstein, Global Head of Clean Technology and Renewables at Goldman Sachs said: “We are excited about the opportunity in distributed solar, which has the potential to both lower energy costs and create jobs. Our firm has set a target of $40 billion (£26bn) in financings and investments in renewable energy over the next decade and we believe SolarCity’s range of distributed solar solutions targeting a wider customer base will help us move toward a low carbon energy future.”

SolarCity has already installed around a quarter of the solar systems financed by the fund and the firm plans to install the rest by the end of this year.