PRIVATE SECTOR LIKES SOLARSTRONG

After losing fed loan, military solar project a go
Jason Dearen (w/Matthew Daly), November 29, 2011 (AP)

"A $1 billion solar energy project that would nearly double the number of panels on residential rooftops in the U.S. is back on track less than two months after losing a federal loan guarantee…SolarCity…[has] reached a deal with Bank of America Corp.'s Merrill Lynch unit for financing the five-year project called SolarStrong…[that will] put shimmering solar panels on 120,000 military houses in dozens of states…[and] provide power to military families at a lower cost than utility power.

"In late September, SolarCity said the military project's loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy was scuttled due to new, more rigid requirements spurred by the collapse of…Solyndra Inc…Yet, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive said the loan guarantee process is a chief reason why the new funding happened…[T]he careful vetting required by the DOE's loan program helped give [BofA Merrill] confidence in the project…"

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"[T]he significant drop in the price of solar panels over the past year because of less expensive panels being manufactured in China also made financing the project easier…The new project is scaled down from…160,000 homes in 33 states…[This is also an] effect of losing the loan guarantee…[SolarCity will own and operate the panels. It is already working with the private companies that manage military housing on each base to install them]…

"…[A bank spokesman] said the SolarStrong deal is part of a $20 billion effort by the bank to invest in renewable energy, conservation and other areas related to the environment…[because it sees huge growth potential and] the U.S. Department of Defense is a huge new customer. The Defense Department is the largest single consumer of electricity in the nation…[with the goal] of deriving 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025…"