657: Financing Flexibility: Innovative Capital for Solar Developers with Laura Pagliarulo of SolaREIT

How can solar developers and landowners at the community solar level free up capital, lower lease costs and improve the overall economics of these longterm deals? SolaREIT has positioned itself as a strategic financial provider to the community solar market by addressing this very question. Laura Pagliarulo, the Founder & President of SolaREIT, leverages her extensive finance & renewable energy experience to execute on an innovative land acquisition strategy that gives solar developers more flexibility without giving away the farm (pun intended). 

SolaREIT has created a structure that specifically values (and compensates in a novel manner) the land underneath solar projects. SolaREIT also introduced the option for lump-sum payments to landowners. In this way, they are able to offer instant financial liquidity for landowners while bundling the value of multiple portfolios in a way that traditional developers are unable to manage on their own. Laura explains how they offer an alternative to traditional equity or debt financing that provides developers the ability to improve their profits in later stages of the projects, a win-win scenario.

Laura’s work at leading solar companies like Clean Choice Energy and SunEdison helped hone her understanding of the opportunities and complexity of energy markets. Today, that expertise gives solar project developers an edge and a capital advantage in a tight market.

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