Friday, October 21, 2011

Vivint Solar Sets Up $75M Renewable Energy Fund

Provo, Utah-based Vivint Solar, which designs and installs residential solar power systems using power purchase agreements (PPAs), said this week that it has set up a $75M renewable energy fund, backed by a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, to fund installs of residential solar energy systems in the United States. The firm--which was founded by Todd Pedersen--said the funds will go towards a projected pipeline of 2,400 residential solar installations in New Jersey, Utah, Hawaii, and New York. Vivint uses power purchase agreements (PPAs) to make solar affordable for homeowners. PPAs allow homeowners to pay little to nothing upfront to install solar panels on their house, in exchange for agreeing to purchase the power generated by those sytsems over the lifetime of the systems. Those rates are usually less than a homeowner would pay for their usual utilities.