GTM Research: Third-party financing taking over US residential PV market
- SolarCity remains the largest company in third-party financing of solar PV systems
GTM Research (Boston, Massachusetts, US) has released a new report which finds that third-party financing of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has become the dominant business model in four leading US state residential PV markets.
"Residential Solar PV Financing: The Vendor, Installer and Financier Landscape, 2013-2016" finds that third-party financed residential PV comprises more than 50% of new residential PV capacity in California, Arizona, Colorado and Massachusetts, and is gaining traction in at least ten other states.
"Prior to 2010, there were few residential third-party ownership (TPO) vendors," said GTM VP of Research Shayle Kann, the report's author. "Since then, the success of companies such as SolarCity, Sunrun, and SunPower has led to a spate of new entrants into the market."
"Today, we count at least ten TPO companies operating, and a number of others still getting off the ground. Each company has introduced its own unique version of the residential financing model."
SolarCity remains largest player
GTM notes that residential solar leases are now available in 14 US states, and predicts that the market will rise from USD 1.3 billion in 2012 to USD 5.7 billion in 2016.
SolarCity Corporation (San Mateo, California, US) remains the largest company in the space, with a market share more than double its nearest competitor. The next largest providers, in no order were Sunrun Inc. (San Francisco, California, US), SunPower Corporation (San Jose, California, US) and Clean Power Finance Inc. (San Francisco, California, US).
GTM also finds that 28 funds for residential solar projects have raised over USD 3.1 billion, with U.S. Bancorp alone raising over USD 1.35 billion. Eight other banks have raised funds for third-party projects.
The report also looks at the vendor and installer landscape for third-party owned PV.
2013-02-12 | Courtesy: GTM Research; Image: SolarCity | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH
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