NRG Energy and its yieldco NRG Yield have formed a partnership to invest in residential solar leases.
The agreement will see NRG Yield take an equity stake in portfolios of residential leases built up by the NRG subsidiary NRG Home Solar.
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The first two portfolios to change hands under the new deal include a 17MW group of 2,200 leases across nine states with 17 years remaining. The larger portfolio totals more than 6,000 leases for installs still in development, with a capacity of around 48MW and a term of 20 years.
“With the completion of this partnership between the companies, we initiate a new phase in the growth strategy of the NRG Home business unit and NRG Yield,” said David Crane, CEO of NRG and NRG Yield’s chairman and CEO. “This strategic financial partnership, coupled with the growing strength of NRG Home’s residential solar platform, provides us even more confidence in our strategy and growth targets both for the residential solar business and for the NRG Yield portfolio at large.”
The deal gives NRG the ability to source more cash by shifting a portion of its leases to NRG Yield while revenue from the leases provides it with cash for future investment.
Within 12 months, all 65MW are expected to be fully invested with returns of 7.5% expected across the lifetime of the systems.
Last year NRG revealed plans to split the company into a number of core businesses, including NRG Home. NRG Yield was one of the first of the current crop solar yieldcos to emerge.