Solar industries award for Canadian lessor

Panasonic Eco Solutions Canada has won the 2016 Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) game changer award in the project finance category, the second time the company has been recognised for its work in energy market leasing.

“We are honored to receive this outstanding award, which offers evidence that we are helping an underserved part of the solar PV market to get projects brought to commercial operation that may otherwise have not obtained financing,” said Walter Buzzelli, managing director at Panasonic Eco Solutions Canada.

“Our financing platform has been designed to be efficient and meaningful to both the system owner and lender, making even smaller scale systems bankable enough to allow attractive investment rates which can lead to better returns in solar PV projects,” he stated.

According to the citation, Panasonic in conjunction with PNC Equipment Finance, created a financing proposition whereby Panasonic provides full turn-key engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services, 100% construction financing, operations, maintenance and a production guarantee on the projects’ future performance. The program is available to owners of large utility scale projects, as well as projects as small as 200kW.

“PNC is honored to share the Game Changer Award for Project Finance Innovation with Panasonic,” said Bruce Schruder, senior vice president and senior account executive of the equipment finance division for PNC Bank Canada. “Projects financed by our collaboration help generate clean power for manufacturers and main streets across Canada while at the same time providing PNC’s Canadian customers with the banking to reach their environmental goals.”