Dive Brief:
-
Mosaic Energy has raised $220 million that it says it will use to fund rooftop solar installations, Greentech Media reports.
-
Mosaic says it plans to have about $1 billion available to homeowners for solar loans, another sign that the industry is shifting away from the solar leasing model that brought it growth over the past decade.
-
The fund raising was led by Warburg Pincus with participation by Core Innovation Capital and Obvious Ventures.
Dive Insight:
Mosaic in April raised $200 million in funding from DZ Bank, NY Green Bank and Guggenheim Securities. Mosaic has now bested that in its latest round.
The funding provides an “open runway for growth,” Mosaic’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Mosaic provides financing to homeowners for the purchase of rooftop solar systems through a network of over 250 solar companies.
"The U.S. residential solar market is set to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future," Saurabh Agarwal, principal in the energy group at Warburg Pincus, said in a statement.
The last year has seen a trend away from solar leasing models, according to GTM Research. After accounting for 72% of the residential solar market in 2014, leases made up 62% last year, and are expected to fall to 55% in 2017."
"The market reached 72% third party ownership in 2014 and we think that is the peak," GTM's Nicole Litvak told Utility Dive last summer
GTM noted that local installers have been quickest to embrace the trend to loans, which is way third-party ownership of solar installations still has the highest market share.
Mosaic isn't the only solar company to announce financing news recently. Vivant Solar on Aug. 4 closed a $313 million term loan facility. It will be used to refinance 11 tax equity funds that own over 307 MW and 47,000 residential solar energy systems across 12 states.