Sunnova secures US$150m for safe harbour equipment and sales growth

• Sunnova has secured US$150 million of financing to purchase safe harbour equipment and boost customer numbers and battery storage system sales.

The US residential solar and storage company said in a statement on Monday that the funds are split between a US$95 million revolving asset-based loan facility and a private placement of US$55 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes.

The company said that the former would be spent exclusively on purchasing equipment before 1 January 2020, when the federal investment tax credit (ITC) would shrink from 30% to 26%.

The loan was backed by affiliates of global investment bank Credit Suisse and New York-based asset management firm LibreMax Capital.

It has a maximum size of approximately $138 million, subject to lender consent.

Funds managed by Magnetar Capital and Tortoise Capital Advisors purchased the convertible notes, which has the option to grow to US$75 million.

William Berger, chief executive officer, said in a statement that “strong operational momentum” at Sunnova would prompt customer growth in 2020 to outstrip quarter three expectations.

“These new debt facilities will enable us to finance the purchase of equipment, which will allow us to safe harbour the 30% ITC and give us access to additional working capital and asset level capital to fund our continuing growth,” he said.

The depreciation of the federal solar subsidy prompted several major domestic installers, including 7X Energy and Sunpower, to stockpile equipment in the final months of 2019.