Morgan Stanley’s recent $250 million investment has bumped US home solar investments towards nearly $800 million in 2015 already.
MS Solar Investments, Morgan Stanley’s solar subsidiary, will aid Brite Energy (a subsidiary of Protection 1) and Main Street Power with their work. Morgan Stanley’s funding will allow for further expansion of Brite Energy into more states.
Brite Energy Chief Structure Financial Officer Jimmy Chuang said that he anticipates further growth this year while doubling Brite Energy’s financing.
“Leveraging the customer-centric capabilities of Protection 1, we have created the ultimate customer acquisition experience for our Brite customers,” said Chief Revenue Officer Jared Chappel of Bright Energy.
“We look forward to accelerating our customer acquisition in 2015 through our innovative, solar energy made easy platform,” he said.
2015 has already been a gangbusters year for residential solar financing, and January is not even done yet.
SolarCity and JP Morgan last week agreed to a $350 million partnership. Meanwhile, Investec will support SunRun with $195 million in financing new projects.
Morgan Stanley has been putting big money into cleantech as of late. In 2013 alone, it invested $9.5 billion in capital, and it has invested over $55 billion since 2006.
Large financial institutions have shown their willingness to invest in solar as fossil fuels become a riskier investment. This is thanks to scientific analysis suggesting that burning fuels from places like the tar sands of Canada will cause rampant global warming.
With dropping solar costs, investors will continue moving away from dirtier investments as the public demands more from Wall Street in helping to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Expect more big residential solar financing announcements like Morgan Stanley’s as 2015 rolls on.
