SolarCity Announces Financing Breakthrough

SolarCity Corporation announced that it has obtained financing for a solar rooftop project covering more than 100,000 military homes. The announcement comes as good news so soon after the Solyndra bankruptcy scandal. SolarCity originally planned to obtain financing under the same federal loan guarantee program as Solyndra but the deal came under greater scrutiny and ran into delays in the aftermath of Solyndra's bankruptcy. SolarCity Corporation was able to move ahead with a plan to install rooftop solar panels at military housing installations after Bank of America BAC agreed to finance the project. The financing that Bank of America will provide won't be as cheap as if the loan was guaranteed by the United States government, so the project is being reduced from the original 160,000 homes down to 120,000 homes. SolarCity's will install the solar rooftop panels in military housing units across the United States over the next five years. The company will focus on areas where the cost of electricity is relatively high and charge customers a rate slightly lower than local rates after solar panels are installed for little or no cost. The deal is a positive sign for the future of the solar energy industry and the renewable energy sector because it shows that the private sector is willing to finance large scale renewable energy projects without the benefit of loan guarantees from the federal government. Although investing in renewable energy is a good public relations move for Bank of America, it wouldn't agree to finance such a big project if it didn't believe that the solar energy project stood a very good chance of being profitable. The SolarCity financing breakthrough is sure to be appreciated by investors who are interested in the solar energy industry. It comes at a time when financing options for the industry were under question because of the Solyndra bankruptcy and as a possible trade war is about to breakout between the United States and China over the solar power industry. ACTION ITEMS:

Bullish:
Traders who believe that the SolarCity deal with Bank of America is a positive sign for solar power's future might want to consider the following trades:

• Traders could buy other solar power stocks like Suntech Power Holdings STP and Yingli Green Energy YGE.

Bearish:
Traders who believe that the possibility of a looming fight between American and Chinese solar companies outweighs the positives of the SolarCity deal may consider alternate positions:

• Traders could short the previously mentioned solar power companies.

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