Solar Installer Borrego Gets $14M From a Big Corporation

Despite all the layoffs you read about in the solar world, the market is clearly not dead yet.

Borrego Solar Systems, which installs residential and utility-scale solar systems, has raised $14 million from a strategic investor. Borrego is one of the older, and more successful, installers out there. The California company has been planting solar systems since 1980. It has landed deals to market solar systems with Sam’s Club. It also relentlessly advertises on NPR.

Part of the appeal to investors, of course, is that Borrego has a track record. It garnered around $60 million in revenue last year. Installers tend to work on thinner margins than solar panel providers, but $60 million is tough to argue with.

Pay more attention to installation. For the past few decades, most of the research and development in solar has been spent on improving the quality and efficiency of solar panels themselves. Very little attention has been paid to installation, although close to half of the cost of a solar system revolves around putting panels in place.

Some of the companies, along with Borrego, that have worked to reduce the installation cost include Solar City, which has a novel application for organizing truck rolls to reduce inefficient installation procedures, and Sungevity, which can do estimates for installs over the Web.

Part of the money will be used to develop low-cost installation techniques, the company said. The other part will be used to expand its footprint on the East Coast. New Jersey is second to California in solar.

Weirdly, there’s no mention of who put the $14 million into the company. Borrego won’t identify the investor for about a month. The only thing the company will say is that it is a strategic investor that is a publicly traded company and not a venture firm.