The platform will allow a broad range of investors, both individuals and institutions of all sizes, to participate directly in solar investments previously only available to large financial institutions.
“People want to support clean energy development” said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. “Customers are seeing the benefits of getting solar for their homes but they would like to participate in other ways as well. Previously, only institutional investors could participate in the financing of most solar assets. With our investment platform, we’re hoping to allow far more individuals and smaller organizations to participate in the transformation to a cleaner, more distributed infrastructure.”
SolarCity has acquired a privately-held financial technology company, Common Assets LLC, which developed the investment platform SolarCity will use to distribute its investment products. The president and chief executive officer of Common Assets, Tim Newell, has joined SolarCity as part of the transaction, along with the company’s chief architect John Witchel.
Newell will serve as SolarCity’s vice president of financial products and has more than 25 years of investment, technology and government experience, including roles as senior advisor to private equity firm US Renewables Group; managing director of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s clean technology affiliate fund; managing director and head of investment banking for E*Trade’s investment banking affiliate, E*Offering; and head of investment bank Robertson Stephen’s financial technology group.
Witchel will become SolarCity’s senior technology architect for financial products. He is an experienced technology executive and successful entrepreneur with experience in large-scale financial innovation and was co-founder and chief technology officer of Prosper Marketplace, where he oversaw design and development of the first person-to-person online lending marketplace in the U.S.
“SolarCity’s financial products will provide an exciting new opportunity for people to make an impact—both for their own financial future and our global future—by investing in the shift to solar energy,” said Newell. “Unlike crowdfunding and community solar approaches that typically aggregate investors to provide loans for individual projects, SolarCity plans to offer debt investments backed by diversified portfolios of solar assets.”
SolarCity is a leading solar provider in the US where it is currently providing nearly one in every three new residential solar systems. The company’s financial products will provide an avenue for impact investing in order to deliver powerful social and environmental benefits. The company also recently launched the Give Power Foundation, through which it plans to donate solar-powered lighting to one new school that lacks electricity for each new megawatt of residential solar power it deploys.
For additional information:
