With DoE, DoD Backing SolarStrong Aims to Double US Residential Solar Power Installations

September 8th, 2011 by Andrew

Photo credit: SolarCity

SolarCity’s SolarStrong project, which the company says could double the number of US residential solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, moved a step closer to becoming reality yesterday when Energy Secretary Stephen Chu approved a conditional commitment to partially guarantee a $344 million loan.

Part of the SolarStrong project entails SolarCity working with leading US military housing privatization developers to install, own and operate as many as 160,000 rooftop solar power installations on as many as 124 military housing developments across 33 states, according to a SolarCity news release.

The project is expected to result in over $1 billion worth of solar projects and 371 megawatts (MW) of residential solar power capacity being installed. USRG Renewable Finance, a subsidiary of the US Renewables Group, and BoA Merrill Lynch will serve as lead lender partners for the project.

“We’re extremely grateful to the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, in addition to our partners, U.S. Renewables Group and BofA Merrill Lynch. Without this group, we would not have been able to make the economics of this project work,” said Lyndon Rive, SolarCity’s CEO. “Now the solar industry has a debt model that can make distributed generation affordable on a massive scale.”

The US Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab’s (NREL) Jobs and Economic Development Impact model estimates that the SolarStrong installations can be expected to create some 6,000 direct job-years of work related to the installation and ongoing maintenance of the residential solar power systems.

The first SolarStrong project, at Hickam Communities at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, is already underway. There, SolarCity is working with real estate developer Lend Lease to install residential solar power systems on more than 2,000 military family homes.

“Thanks to the Energy Department’s leadership and resolve, we can now bring an unprecedented opportunity to privatized military housing across the U.S.,” said Aaron Gillmore, SolarCity’s vice president of solar development.

“We believe the SolarStrong model will deliver the most affordable solar option available to military housing, and provide a template for financing large-scale residential solar projects well into the future.”

The US Dept. of Defense is the single largest energy consumer in the US. The SolarStrong project will help the DoD enhance its energy security and meet a stated goal of renewable energy supplying more than 25% of its energy needs by 2025.

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Tags: BoA Merril Lynch, DoD renewable energy, DoD renewable power, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, residential solar power, residential solar PV, SolarCity, SolarStrong, US goverment renewable energy, US government renewable power, US military solar power, US Renewables Group, USRG Renewable Finance

About the Author

Andrew I've been reporting and writing on a wide range of topics at the nexus of economics, technology, ecology/environment and society for some five years now. Whether in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa or the Middle East, issues related to these broad topical areas pose tremendous opportunities, as well as challenges, and define the quality of our lives, as well as our relationship to the natural environment.

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Anonymous

This is getting closer to the SolarSoldier concept but it needs to include training. It also needs to be massively scaled-up.
- Anonymous
  
  I’ts kinda massive as it is. Doubling the amount of residential solar in one move will make a difference.
  
  This is going to happen all over the country, not just a couple of isolated bases. The people living in these houses are going to talk to their family and friends and, as we know, most residential solar is sold by ‘word of mouth’.
  
  This is going to help a lot of local solar installation companies scale up and get well established. It’s going to mean a lot more installers gain the skills. It’s going to establish and strengthen supply chains.
Anonymous

Folks might want to take a second to remind themselves who the Commander in Chief is as they read about how our armed forces are leading the green transition in the US.
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