SolarCity and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA Merrill) have agreed to terms on financing for SolarStrong, SolarCity's five-year plan to build more than $1 billion in solar power projects for privatized U.S. military housing communities across the country.
As part of the project, SolarCity plans to partner with military housing developers to install, own and operate rooftop solar installations. SolarStrong is ultimately expected to create up to 300 MW of solar generation, SolarCity says.
However, the company was unable to finalize the loan guarantee that it sought from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) before the program's deadline. In the wake of the loan guarantee failure, SolarCity announced that it would need to scale back the project.
In its announcement this week, SolarCity says SolarStrong will outfit up to 120,000 military housing units. The original plans called for installing solar on up to 160,000 homes, for a total of 371 MW.
‘BofA Merrill never wavered when the loan guarantee wasn't finalized and worked with us to create a financing structure that works without it,’ notes Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity. ‘The fact that SolarStrong can move forward without a federal loan guarantee is a clear indication that long-term incentives such as the investment tax credit are working.’
