Borrego Solar Systems, an El Cajon-based designer, installer and financier of public sector solar energy systems throughout California and New England, said it has attracted $64.4 million for a new fund to build about 18.5 megawatts of renewable energy projects for businesses, schools and government buildings in Massachusetts. The latest round of investment is Borrego’s seventh and largest so far since the firm began offering power purchase agreements in 2009, and brings the total amount of capital raised through the investment funds to $225 million, the company said. Key investors in the new fund included Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, which is a unit of U.S. Bancorp, and National Cooperative Bank based in Washington, D.C.
Solar project developers have benefited over the past 18 months from a steep decline in solar panel prices that has cut the cost of installing the renewable energy systems. “It’s making solar become competitive with other forms of (power) generation,” said Bill Bush, Borrego’s chief financial officer. Borrego, like some other solar companies, has been successful in bundling projects together into packages to create an investment vehicle that attracts funding.