The future of solar finance is here!
When I was working at the White House, we envisioned a future when everyday Americans could participate in the clean energy revolution. These projects are rock solid investments that have been limited to a select few. That is why I wanted to start CleanCapital with my co-founders, and am excited that today we take a big step in that direction.
Our team at CleanCapital is excited to announce today a first-of-its-kind clean energy financing. We closed our first offering allowing for investments to be made directly into a diversified portfolio of solar projects. CleanCapital received funding from John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which invested senior debt into the $21 million portfolio of 14 solar projects in 6 states.
Solar project investing offers the opportunity to invest in clean and renewable sources of energy with predictable cash flows each year. CleanCapital provides high quality investment opportunities with long term power contracts. — Scott Kushner, Director, Power & Infrastructure at John Hancock
The last several years have seen the evolution of solar energy as it breaks out from being a new technology to recently celebrating over 1 million installations in the US. The clean energy marketplace is now projected to grow to $5 trillion by 2030. This growth represents a huge investment opportunity, as solar assets provide predictable yields for long term returns.
Why is this deal a game changer?
Before today, clean energy finance has been limited to institutional investors, large banks, private equity firms, and tax equity investors. This deal expands the market, and allows more people to have access to these lucrative investments. CleanCapital’s investors understand the value of long term investing and maximizing existing cash flowing assets. Receiving an investment from John Hancock is significant given their long history of financing in the renewable energy space.
This is an exciting time to be a fintech company entering the clean energy marketplace. Our model demonstrates to the market a more efficient process for solar developers to quickly exit their existing distributed generation portfolios. Exit opportunities can be difficult for developers to come by so CleanCapital is helping fill this need.
Clean energy investing for all
Last week the administration announced a new, intergovernmental initiative to expand access to solar energy and promote energy efficiency across the US — Clean Energy Access For All.
Today’s portfolio offering is an opportunity to build upon this initiative by reducing traditional barriers in clean energy investing and to help further the global transition to clean energy.
Frictionless and efficient investing
CleanCapital’s investment platform identifies, screens and manages clean energy projects for investors. Our team manages the entire process — from sourcing projects to underwriting and evaluating each project. Once the project is onboarded, CleanCapital actively monitors the investment in real-time and distributes proceeds to investors. By eliminating typical transaction barriers and making capital more accessible, we’re accelerating clean energy growth worldwide.
What are investors getting?
The portfolio is a mixture of different size solar energy projects that provide electricity to school districts, universities, and large enterprises. The CleanCapital-John Hancock financing enables large institutional investors to make high impact and high yield investments in clean energy channels.
This is the first in a series of offerings CleanCapital will roll out this year, as the company already has over $100 million in operating distributed generation solar projects in the pipeline for future investments.
Stay up to date on how CleanCapital is changing the game on clean energy finance by signing up on our website, following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook or connecting via LinkedIn.
