(Bloomberg) — First Solar Inc. and SunPower Corp., the two
largest U.S. solar-panel manufacturers, said their joint venture
will own a stake in residential rooftop systems in addition to
large-scale projects in California and Maryland.
8point3 Energy Partners LP will hold 432 megawatts in total
capacity, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission Tuesday. The joint venture’s name “is
derived from the average amount of time it takes light from the
sun to reach the earth, which is 8.3 minutes,” the companies
said.
While other alternative energy companies have sold shares
in ventures with large solar projects, this partnership would
also give investors access to payments from the power generated
by rooftop systems. It’s a novel way for investors to make money
from the boom in residential solar. Installations on U.S. homes
have increased by at least 50 percent in each of the last three
years, the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research
said in a report.
“It makes absolutely no difference whether these solar
panels sit on the ground in the middle of a desert or on a
warehouse or on a homeowner’s rooftop,” Pavel Molchanov, an
analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in Houston, said in a
phone interview. “Ultimately, all that matters is how many
megawatts there are.”
Pooling Projects
First Solar and SunPower announced last month that they
were planning to sell shares in the partnership, the first time
competing panel makers have joined forces to create a so-called
yieldco. Several renewable-energy companies, including Abengoa
SA and NRG Energy Inc., have formed yieldcos as part of a
growing trend to pool projects into entities that return steady
dividends to shareholders. Selling projects to the partnerships
also gives developers more capital for future projects.
SolarCity Corp. has offered bonds that are funded by
revenue from residential systems.
The new partnership will own stakes in six solar farms,
four of which are operational and two of which are in late-stage
development. In addition, it will include about 39 megawatts
from rooftop solar arrays on 5,900 customer homes.
The 8point3 filing didn’t specify how many shares would be
sold or at what price they would be offered. The partnership is
applying to list on the Nasdaq, the companies said in a
statement.
“The 2014 financials won’t really give us a lot of
insight, and even 2015 guidance won’t give us much insight” on
how much cash the projects will generate, Molchanov said. “The
first steady-state year for this initial portfolio is going to
be 2016. Ultimately, it’s going to be that cash available for
distribution that drives the yieldco.”
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. are arranging
the offering.
First Solar dropped 2 percent to $59.86 at the close in New
York and SunPower declined 2.7 percent to $32.29.
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Justin Doom in New York at
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
Tina Davis, Steven Frank