Why didn't the company have the ability to get the cash from a bank in the first place? I imagine there is less stress created for a investor by purchasing panels for their own home or business and pocketing the savings, instead of giving the same money to a business that apparently wasn't able to secure the same loan from an investor.
Often new solar facilities come with tax benefits (ITC and MACERS depreciation) that the power consumer is unable to monetize - this is particularly true of non-profits and other businesses with very low tax bills. So they sell their solar facility to a private investor who is better able to exploit the tax benefits (i.e. people and orgs who have a lot of highly taxable income).
Legends can come in either at the beginning of that life cycle by selling off the tax equity to private investors and the panels themselves and the revenue they generate (i.e. sponsor equity) to retail investors. We can also come in after the tax benefits have been exploited (5-7 years after commissioning) and purchase the solar facility from the tax motivated investor.
In the future, we plan to bring project finance in house and do some origination work, as well. We are still at the start of our journey.
