Clean Power Finance

Clean Power Finance
IndustrySolar energy
Founded2006
Defunct2016
FateMerged with Kilowatt Financial
SuccessorSpruce Finance
Headquarters201 Mission Street, 11th Floor San Francisco, California, 94105 U.S.
Key people
Nat Kreamer
Mike Pope
Kristian Hanelt
Arash Boostani
Tom Harvey
Kirstin Hoefer
Nick Mack
Micah Myers
Steve Olszewski
Shawn Tabak
James Tong
Elaine Zhou
Websitewww.cleanpowerfinance.com

Clean Power Finance,[1] headquartered in San Francisco, California, is a financial services and software company for the residential solar industry.

Clean Power Finance operates the CPF Market, an online business-to-business platform that connects institutional investors and lenders with residential solar professionals who need solar finance products to grow their businesses. The company was founded in 2006 by Match.com founder and serial entrepreneur Gary Kremen, and for the first five years sold CPF Tools to solar installers and originators.[2]

In early 2011, Nat Kreamer, a co-founder of Sunrun, joined the company as CEO.[3] In April 2011, the company began making residential solar finance products available to qualified channel partners. Finance products allow installers to offer a variety of financing options to consumers who want less expensive solar electricity immediately without the hassle and expense of photovoltaic solar system ownership.[4] Clean Power Finance operates the largest network of solar professionals in the United States.[5][6][7]

Clean Power Finance has raised more than a billion dollars in residential solar project financing, and currently manages more than half a billion dollars on behalf of fund investors, including Google Inc. ($75MM),[8] Kilowatt Financial ($250MM),[9] an unnamed utility holding company, and Integrys Energy Group subsidiary Integrys Energy Services[10]

In 2011, the United States Department of Energy awarded Clean Power Finance a $3MM grant[11] as part of its SunShot Initiative to build a database and software tool to streamline solar permitting processes.[12] In 2012, the DOE awarded Clean Power Finance two more grants. The first, for $500,000, supported development of an online marketplace for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) services on installed residential solar systems.[13] The second, for $1 million, supports online tools for solar companies to connect to sell and install residential solar more efficiently.[14]

The company currently operates in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.[15]

Clean Power Finance is an active solar industry leader. CEO Nat Kreamer was named a White House Champion of Change in the Veterans in Clean Energy and Climate Security category[16] and was elected in May 2014 to serve as chairman of the board of directors at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Micah Myers, SVP of Corporate Development, is on the board of directors at the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA).[17] The company has played a leading role in helping traditional power companies invest in the residential DG solar market.[18]

In 2016, Clean Power Finance merged with Kilowatt Financial to form Spruce Finance Inc.[19]

  1. ^ Kreamer, Nat (February 2012). "A Marketplace for Residential Solar Financing Products Will Drive Solar". North American Clean Energy.
  2. ^ Fehrenbacher, Katie (27 September 2011). "Google invests $75M into Clean Power Finance solar fund". GigaOM.
  3. ^ Olson, Syanne (6 September 2011). "Clean Power Finance closes US$25M investment from KPCB, names new CEO, three board members". PV-Tech.org.
  4. ^ Herndon, Andrew, and Levy, Ari (9 February 2012). "Where the U.S. Solar Industry Is Shining".[dead link‍] Bloomberg Businessweek.
  5. ^ Clean Power Finance and Integrys Energy Services (8 January 2014). "Integrys Energy Services Partners with Clean Power Finance for First Residential Solar Investments". IntegrysEnergy.com.
  6. ^ Needham, Rick (27 September 2011). "Taking in more sun with Clean Power Finance". Archived 2012-06-30 at the Wayback Machine Google Official Blog.
  7. ^ Clean Power Finance press release(11 March 2013). "Clean Power Finance Partners Comprise up to 80 Percent of Major U.S. Residential Solar Companies". www.cleanpowerfinance.com.
  8. ^ Hargreaves, Steve (28 September 2011) "Google expands its rooftop solar funding". Archived 2012-01-18 at the Wayback Machine CNNMoney.
  9. ^ Chernova, Yuliya (24 April 2014) "Solar Finance Space Heats Up as Kilowatt Financial Gains Ground". WSJ.com.
  10. ^ Trabish, Herman (8 January 2014) "Leading Utility Holding Company Integrys Moves Into Residential Solar". Greentechmedia.com.
  11. ^ "Solar Projects to Reduce Non-Hardware Balance of System Costs". SunShot Initiative Website.
  12. ^ Whitmore, Chris (16 September 2011). "Clean Power Finance awarded SunShot grant by DOE". PV-Tech.org.
  13. ^ "SunShot Incubator Projects". SunShot Initiative Website.
  14. ^ Shahan, Zachary (18 June 2012) "Clean Power Finance Gets $1.5 Million to Reduce “Soft Costs” of Going Solar". Cleantechnica.
  15. ^ Meehan, Chris (6 February 2012). "Clean Power Finance makes its TPOs available to installers in more states". CleanEnergyAuthority.com.
  16. ^ "Nat Kreamer". White House Champions of Change Website.
  17. ^ Solar Electric Power Association (22 October 2013). "SEPA Welcomes New Board Members". Archived 2014-02-19 at the Wayback Machine SEPA website.
  18. ^ Michael Copley (10 January 2014). "Solar industry welcomes deal bringing retail supplier into rooftop space". SNL Financial.
  19. ^ "Kilowatt Financial and Clean Power Finance Complete Merger, Rebrand as Spruce". 6 January 2016.