JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS): 3 Financial Institutions That Are Banking Big on Solar

One of the recent beneficiaries of this pledge is Sunedison Inc (NYSE:SUNE), which recently secured $100 million in financing, which will help to fund 2.7 gigawatts of projects. SunEdison operates in two segments: Semiconductor Materials and Solar Energy solutions. Semiconductor revenue for 1Q 2013 totaled $230 million, representing 1% quarter-over-quarter growth. Reduced development spending in 2012, though, resulted in a $274 million decrease (58%) in revenue over the previous quarter. Things seem be picking up for the segment. They have 2.7 gigawatts of projects in the pipeline and a backlog of 925 megawatts.

Helping to give credit where credit’s due

SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) reached a lease financing agreement with Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) to fund more than $500 million in solar power projects, which should yield about 110 megawatts of generation for homeowners and businesses. In the largest financing agreement of its type to date, the company foresees this investment as affording them the opportunity to offer solar services to customers with lower credit scores. Jimmy Chuang, SolarCity’s VP of structured finance, said, “We expect to be able to expand our offering to a broader customer base by lowering the credit requirements even further in future financings.”

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) has committed to invest $40 billion in renewable energy projects by the end of the decade. “We are excited about the opportunity in distributed solar, which has the potential to both lower energy costs and create jobs,” says Stuart Bernstein, global head of clean technology and renewables at Goldman Sachs.

Riding the Elon Musk popularity wave, SolarCity has seen shares rise over 224% over the past year. Additionally, it recently raised guidance for 2013 to 270 megawatts deployed, up from the mid-May guidance of 250 megawatts. This will result in it being net cash flow positive by 4Q 2013.

A Fool’s conclusion

Findings from a Bloomberg New Energy Finance Report state that annual investments in clean energy are expected to increase from $189 billion in 2012 to between $470 and $880 billion in 2030. It is becoming increasingly clear that investments in renewable energy, most noticeably solar, are becoming an increasing area of focus for large financial institutions. Investors should follow these developments as part of their due diligence in preparing to make their own investments in the renewable energy sector.

The article 3 Financial Institutions That Are Banking Big on Solar originally appeared on Fool.com.

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