US-based rooftop solar installer OneRoof Energy has secured $31.5m in funding, according to an SEC filing, and NRG Solar appears to be one of the investors.
OneRoof has not yet made an announcement concerning the funding but James Kelly, senior director of development for NRG Solar, the solar energy subsidiary of US energy company NRG, appears to be a new signatory on the filing concerning the investment.
NRG Solar could not confirm to Global Corporate Venturing whether it was one of the investors, though it is worth noting that US-based rooftop solar companies have generally raised financing through solar lease funds initiated with financial services firms rather than equity funding, indicating that the investors may have aimed to take a sizeable equity stake through the investment.
OneRoof has not revealed how much it has raised in total, though its prior funding includes a $50m series A round raised in 2011 from Korea-based Hanwha International, also its biggest solar panel supplier, U.S. Bancorp and Black Coral Capital, as well as $3m of funding from Black Coral in 2012 and an undisclosed investment by the North American subsidiary of France-based energy company GDF Suez in October 2013.
Another SEC filing, made today, indicates that OneRoof has raised a further $7.7m in options, warrants or securities.
Significantly, NRG announced yesterday that it intends to acquire Roof Diagnostics Solar, currently the sixth largest solar installer in the United States, for an undisclosed sum, and this together with an investment in OneRoof could signify that NRG has become the first large-scale energy supplier to enter the thriving US rooftop solar market.
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