The Solar Energy Finance Association (SEFA), an NGO dedicated to advancing the availability of public capital and expanding financing options for the solar energy industry, has launched new offerings.
Chief among SEFA’s initiatives is the development and promotion of the use of standardized financing contracts by the solar industry. Standardized contracts will reduce the time and complexity of evaluating projects, lower transaction costs in the solar development process and improve transparency to the consumer. It will also facilitate the pooling of associated cash flows from solar PV assets for sale or securitization in the capital markets, thereby increasing the solar industry’s access to lower cost funding sources.
There are currently six standard forms of residential and commercial solar leases and PPA templates available on the SEFA website. New contract templates are likely to include solar loan and EPC agreements.
SEFA has also developed a Consumer Best Practices Checklist, which provides guidance to consumers who are thinking about adding a solar system to their home and assists industry professionals in complying with regulations.
The association offers the opportunity to work with the Open Solar Performance and Reliability Clearinghouse (oSPARC), which compiles actuarial data used to evaluate solar investment risk. SEFA members also have access to best practices guides for plant monitoring, operations, maintenance and system installation.
SEFA’s long-term goal is to promote solar as an asset class and improve the solar industry’s access to capital, reduce financing costs and increase the footprint of distributed solar power in the United States. The association is implementing many of the initiatives developed by the Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group, a three-year initiative to increase the availability of capital to the solar industry, funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
