NREL is a national laboratory of the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency

and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

ACCESSING LOW-COST CAPITAL THROUGH SECURITIZATION Michael Mendelsohn

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

This presentation does not contain any proprietary, confidential, or otherwise 

restricted information.

Financiers, 96

Solar Industry, 97

Data and Advisory, 

57

Legal, 35 Trade 

Group/Nonprofit, 

28

Ratings Agency, 5

Government, 5

Insurance, 2

Utility/Regulatory, 

6

Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) Working Group: 

330 Stakeholders Across Wide Array of Industries NREL Goal

Expand availability

of capital

Lower cost

of capital

Reduce

transaction cost, time to

access capital

3 Yr. DOE Award:

Advanced Financing to Achieve SunShot

Promote adoption by developers, financiers, 

law firms, etc.

Organize the industry around:

• Standard documents

• Best practices

• Robust datasets

Conduct analysis to comprehend

opportunities and barriers

Liquidity 

and Price Transparency

Consistency in Cash 

Flows

Wide Array of

Analysis Capabilities

Investor Confidence 

in Asset Performance

Feedback from Rating 

Agencies and Investors

Capital Market Participation Requires...

Two Critical Components:

i. Asset and contractual consistency 

which allows project cash flows to 

be pooled into tradable and highly 

liquid securities, and 

ii. Availability of data to conduct due 

diligence necessary to build market 

confidence in the asset class

...which feed a virtuous circle of...

Nov. 2013 April 2014 July 2014 Improvement?

Name 2013-1 2014-1 2014-2

Yield 4.80% 4.59% 4.32% Yes

Bond Size ($ mm) $54.4 $70.2 $201.5 Yes

ADSAB 

(PV of cashflows - $mm) $87.8 $106.2 $276 Yes

Advance Rate (% of ADSAB) 62% 66% 73% Yes

Wtd. Avg. Seasoning 22 months 12 months 7 months Yes

Portfolio from Residential 71% 87% 86% Yes

Rating BBB+ BBB+ BBB+/BB Neutral

Tranches Single Single Sr/Sub Yes

SolarCity Securitizations

While a significant development, the SolarCity securitizations only represent $325 million funding relative to total 

industry annual investment of approximately $14 billion. All info based on Standard & Poor’s Pre-Sale Reports 

relevant to each securitization.

1. Trustee and SPE Admin & Extraordinary Expense Reserve Top-Off

2. Covered Expenses up to Monthly Cap

3. Master Servicer & Special Servicer Fee

4. O&M Provider Fee

5. Transition Manager Fee

6. Class A Interest

7. Class B Interest

11. Class B Expected Principal*

8. Reserve Account and Top-Off

9. O&M Expense Reserve Acct. and Top-Off

12 - 15. Additional Covered Expenses, Master Servicer Fees, O&M 

Provider Fees & Transition Manager Fees in excess of monthly caps, etc.

16. Turbo Principal Payments to Noteholders**

10. Class A Expected Principal*

17. Remainder to Issuer

SAPC Mock Securitization: SolarCo Waterfall

Mock securitizations 

will provide valuable 

legal documents and 

feedback from rating 

agencies to industry, 

improving 

opportunity for 

smaller entities to 

access low-cost debt.

* Only to extent 

required to meet 

coverage/spread 

requirement

** Based on turbo 

formula

The information contained in this poster is subject to a government license.

Solar Power International

Las Vegas, Nevada

October 20-23, 2014

NREL/PO-6A20-62651