Community Solar: the 4th Solar Vertical & Infocast’s Solar Power Finance and Investment Summit 2015

SunShare’s Director of Finance, Christopher Sayler, and Senior Vice President, Jonathan W. (J.W.) Postal, recently attended the Solar Power Finance and Investment Summit (SPFI) and connected with solar industry and finance professionals in back to back meetings over a 3 day period.

J.W. was invited by Infocast to offer his expertise during a panel titled Community Solar: An Expanding Growth Opportunity.   SunShare was joined by representatives from: NRG Renew (a subsidiary of NRG which  financed some of SunShare’s Colorado projects), First Associates (solar loan/PPA servicing and originating), and Morgan Stanley (which has financed Community Solar Gardens in Massachusetts).

On the Community Solar panel, J.W. introduced the concept of Community Solar as the “Fourth Vertical” — the three other solar verticals being the Utility sector, the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) sector, and the Residential sector.

J.W. explained that Community Solar combines the previous three verticals in a new way that poses advantages in terms of cost and subscriber reach. Community Solar can be purchased by anyone within a community. It can also be constructed at lower costs than rooftop solar. Costs for constructing Community Solar Gardens are more similar to Utility-scale construction costs than they are to residential or C&I rooftop installation costs.

SunShare is already looking forward to next year’s SPFI conference.