(Google) Taking in more sun with Clean Power Finance

[OKIsItJustMe]

Taking in more sun with Clean Power Finance

9/27/11 | 9:00:00 AM

This morning, at the http://www.reffwest.com/">Renewable Energy Finance Forum (REFF-West) in San Francisco, I announced a new $75 million investment to create an initial fund with http://www.cleanpowerfinance.com/">Clean Power Finance that will help up to 3,000 homeowners go solar. This is our second investment in residential solar, and we’ve now http://www.google.com/green/collaborations/investments.html">invested more than $850 million overall to develop and deploy clean energy.

…

Purchasing a solar system is a major home improvement, but the upfront cost has historically been one of the biggest barriers for homeowners. Solar installers across the country don’t always have the resources to find financing for customers, or the capital to provide it themselves. And for investors like Google, banks and others, it can be difficult to enter a fragmented solar market with many companies, and get connected to individual homeowners.

That’s where Clean Power Finance comes in. They’ve developed an open platform that connects installers with investors like Google to provide financing to homeowners. Solar installers sign up with Clean Power Finance to get access to the company’s comprehensive sales solutions, including consumer financing from investors, like the Google fund. This enables installers to sell more systems and grow their business. The installer builds the system, the investor owns it (in this case, Google), and homeowners pay a monthly payment for the system, at a price that’s often less than paying for energy from the grid. Maintenance and performance are taken care of by Clean Power Finance and its network of installers.

This innovative and scalable model makes business sense for Google, Clean Power Finance, solar installers and homeowners too. We’re excited to be one of the first investors to partner with Clean Power Finance and enable the company to continue forging strong relationships with solar installers (like the ones they announced last week with SunLogic, California Solar Systems, American Vision Solar—learn more on Clean Power Finance’s http://www.cleanpowerfinance.com/2011/09/solar-installers-partner-with-clean-power-finance-gain-financing-advantages/">website). By making financing more readily available, the Clean Power Finance platform has the potential to lower costs and accelerate adoption of solar energy.

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[dkf]

1. Why can't the government do this too?

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Clearly, “the government” could

However, it would require a a lot of money. (Where would that come from? Debt & Taxes.)

Google’s using a figure of ~ $25,000/house. OK, so let’s say that in our town, we institute a government program to pay the upfront costs, which will be financed by a “bond issue” (paid for by tax increases.)

For purposes of illustration, let’s say our town has 1,000 houses in it. Because of “economies of scale,” instead of it costing each homeowner ~$25,000, let’s say it collectively costs our town ~$20,000/house or ~$20,000,000 (which we borrow, and pay back over time through higher taxes.)


Now, extend that to the “Federal Government.” According to the http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html">2010 Census, in 2009, there were 129,969,653 “housing units” in the USA.

Let’s call it ~125,000,000 × ~$20,000 ≈ $2,500,000,000,000 (i.e. roughly 2½ Trillion dollars.)

This figure is not inconceivable (although it’s beyond my personal comprehension.)

Putting it in some kind of perspective:

• The national debt currently stands at http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np">14,704,006,072,461.85 (almost 15 Trillion.)
• The President’s proposed 2012 budget was ($3.7 Trillion with a $1.6 Trillion dollar deficit.)

* Caveat lector: This is all “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-of-the-envelope_calculation">back of the envelope.”

[dkf]

4. But they are loans that are paid back through utility bills.

I'm sure we have more in housing.

And it must be a money maker or at least neutral if Google is doing it. They aren't into charity.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. (Google isn’t into charity.)

For what it’s worth:
http://www.google.org/news/2011/jan/index.html

[kristopher]

2. This compliments the OP very well: training roofers for solar installs

PPA stands for Power Purchase Agreement; a contract from some party to buy some amount of the power of a generating source. It is key to lowering finance costs.

OneRoof Energy Gets $50M for Roofer-Installed Solar PPAs

A new channel to market for Hanwha Solar—and new opportunities for roofers


Installing solar panels on residential rooftops is not an easy task. It requires specialized skills in design, electronics, and construction that have made this type of work the domain of a select and relatively expensive group of craftspeople.

OneRoof Energy is looking to change that -- and just raised a $50 million round A and project fund for that task.

Instead of relying on the few thousand specialized solar installers, what if you opened up that pool of contractors to the tens of thousands of roofers (see chart) who are hungry for work in this economy and already have rooftop and construction skills?

This business model also easily positions a solar install for when the roof is built or rebuilt.

Investors ...

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/OneRoof-Energy-Wins-50M-For-Roofer-Installed-Solar-PPAs/