Originally posted on Seeking Alpha, Yahoo News, BusinessWire.
SAN FRANCISCO – kWh Analytics, the market leader in solar risk management, today announced that it structured a Solar Revenue Put with GCL New Energy, Inc., a top five global solar developer, and PNC Bank, N.A., an industry-leading investor in U.S. solar projects since 2007. The 4 projects, totaling 50 MW DC of capacity and located in Oregon, were financed with the Solar Revenue Put protecting cashflows.
Using its proprietary actuarial model and risk management software (“HelioStats”), kWh Analytics developed the Solar Revenue Put, a credit enhancement for financial investors, to drive down investment risk and encourage development of clean, low-cost solar energy.
“We have a global mandate to rapidly expand our investment portfolio of solar projects,” says Frank Zhu, Executive President of GCL New Energy. “To support us in this growth, we were pleased to have found efficient and reliable execution with our partners, PNC Bank and kWh Analytics.”
“Strong relationships are the cornerstone upon which we have built this business,” says Dick Rai, manager of PNC Bank’s energy finance team, the bank’s renewable energy financing arm. “We have long-standing relationships with both GCL New Energy and kWh Analytics, dating back to their respective entries into the U.S. solar market.”
A recent survey of the solar industry’s most active lenders indicates that more than 40% of active lenders are now valuing the Solar Revenue Put as a credit enhancement. Solar portfolios ranging from thousands of residential rooftops to more than ten utility-scale plants have had financing structures supported by the Solar Revenue Put. Portfolios supported by the Put are securing, on average, debt sizing increases of 10%.
Swiss Re Corporate Solutions provides the risk capacity for the Solar Revenue Put. Brian Beebe, Head of North America Origination, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, says, “We are bullish about solar, and Swiss Re is committed to providing innovative risk transfer solutions. kWh Analytics built the industry’s largest data repository, encompassing one-in-five American solar power plants, and owns the foundation upon which entirely new categories of risk management products will be built.”