Silicon Valley-based SunPower has entered a £1bn partnership with Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) to increase the financing options available to US residential solar customers.

The partnership, which is a four-year commitment, will give SunPower access to capital for its loan programme.

Understanding the project

By partnering with Tech CU, SunPower will be able to reduce operating costs by having lower per-watt financing fees.

The company will also streamline loan applications and contract signing processes for customers, in addition to developing a new financing platform.

By integrating SunPower’s sales and system design tools, the new platform will enable customers to compare cash, lease and loan acquisitions.

This is the first time SunPower has partnered up with the California-based credit union.

Executives respond to the deal

Tech CU CEO Todd Harris said: “The combination of solar energy solutions coupled with finance solutions from providers like SunPower has made a huge difference in terms of making financing and acquiring solar loan systems easier and more mainstream.

“As a leader in solar financing, we are committed to continuing our support to finance solution providers in the solar and green energy space, and we are working on additional projects that will help us expand our loan capacity even more in the future.”

SunPower executive vice-president Norm Taffe said: “Our new partnership with Tech CU will diversify SunPower’s funding resources while providing our customers with a streamlined process and experience.

“This $1bn commitment will also allow for tens of thousands of SunPower solar systems to be funded over the course of the next four years.”

Tech CU strategic lending partners vice-president Deborah Crouch added: “We are pleased to add SunPower to our growing list of solar funding partners. We look forward to working with them for many years to come.”

Company overview and share price

Founded in 1985, SunPower is a sustainable energy company that focuses on solar power solutions and services, including loans.

In its 35 years of activity, SunPower has generated more than 18 million MWh.

At the moment of writing, the company’s share price is at $7.47, slowly recovering from a negative fall at $6.85 on 1 May. On 29 April, the price peaked at $7.73 – the highest in a month.

With assets worth more than $3bn, Tech CU is one of California’s largest credit unions. Founded 60 years ago, its customer base has widened to 125,000, including big corporations such as eBay, Tesla and Facebook.