SolarCity gets $500mil financing from Goldman Sachs for Solar Leasing

The amount of financing demonstrates that Financial Institutions have confidence in solar power as a viable business venture.

This initiative by SolarCity:-

• $500 million in financing (approx. RM1.5 billion)
• 110 MW of solar power generated,
• Largest single financing agreement for rooftops in the US, so far
• Little or no up-front cost for homeowners and businesses who invest in the system

Rooftop solar leasing, anyone? The Solar Settlement in Freiburg, Germany. Photo credit: Rolf Disch Solar Architecture

SolarCity is getting more than $500 million in financing to develop and implement solar roof systems in the United States. Similar solar 'leasing' on rooftops was mooted in Australia last year.

SolarCity scores $500 million in financing

SolarCity Corp. (SCTY), a solar-energy developer chaired by billionaire Elon Musk, won financing from Goldman Sachs (GS) Group Inc. for more than $500 million in rooftop solar systems that the company will complete this year.

The lease-financing agreement will help SolarCity build about 110 megawatts of solar power systems with little or no up-front cost for homeowners and businesses, San Mateo, California-based SolarCity said today in a statement.

The deal is the largest single financing agreement for rooftop systems in the U.S. and will raise awareness of the quality of the solar-lease asset class, SolarCity Chief Executive Officer Lyndon Rive said in a telephone interview.

“We hope it sends a signal that solar is a stable and reliable asset to invest in,” Rive said in an interview. “These aren’t luxury yachts we’re talking about, it’s your energy, and the default rates are lower than mortgages.”

During the first quarter, SolarCity said it invested $138.2 million in solar systems as demand for rooftop panels from homeowners and businesses surged.

For New York-based Goldman Sachs, the SolarCity agreement will help reach the Wall Street bank’s goal of financing $40 billion in renewable energy during the next decade, said Stuart Bernstein, global head of clean technology.

“SolarCity’s range of distributed solar solutions targeting a wider customer base will help us move toward a low carbon energy future,” Bernstein said in the statement.


Source: REW

Cyber crime: Malaysia sixth most vulnerable

If you are residing in one of these countries, you are highly at risk of cyber crime. This is according Norton Cyber Crime Report 2012:-

• China
• India
• Indonesia
• Hong Kong
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Philippines
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Arab Emirates

- in no particular order.

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Malaysia sixth most vulnerable

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is the sixth most vulnerable country in the world to cyber crime, in the form of malware attacks through the computer or smartphone.

CyberSecurity Malaysia Research vice president Lt Col (R) Sazali Sukardi said the Sophos Security Threat Report 2013 found, in a period of three months this year, that besides Malaysia, nine others - Hong Kong, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, India, the Philippines, Thailand, China and Indonesia - were also highly at risk.

"Cyber thieves have stolen about RM331.7bil worldwide, at an average of RM593 per victim based on the Norton Cyber Crime Report 2012," he said, while presenting a working paper entitled "Collaboration and cooperation in the fight against cyber crime" at a two-day e-Crime conference, here, Thursday.

However, cyber crime in the country decreased from 15,218 cases in 2011 to 9,986 cases in 2012, he said.

He attributed the drop to effective enforcement by the government enforcement agencies, including CyberSecurity.

According to Sazali, the highest reported cyber crime was fraud, followed by cyber invasion attempts, spam, denial of service, content-related offences, malicious code and cyber defamation.

"We are also facing security threats from international criminal organisations that abuse the internet for various cross-border illegal activities such as drugs, human trafficking, financial fraud and money laundering," he said.

He urged the public to contact CyberSecurity at its helpline Cyber999 through 03-89926969 to provide information or lodge a public complaint. - Bernama

Trivia Friday: Do plants die of old age?

Common knowledge tells us that every living thing will inevitably die, eventually.


                                  See more pics at my Flickr photostream.


ScienceFocus says that, given optimum conditions, some plants can live forever. It takes a change in external conditions to finish them off.

Annual plants, however, usually die soon after seeding.