Elon Musk’s Latest Innovation: Bonds Backed by Solar City's Rooftop Solar Power

We all know that Elon Musk is one of the world’s great innovators. The South African-born developer of PayPal, and current CEO of both Telsa Motors and Spacex may well be a legend in his own time. In 1992, he dropped out of a Ph.D program in Physics at Stanford to pursue entrepreneurial aspirations in the Internet, space exploration and renewable energy. To date, he has achieved major successes in two out of three. And now, as the Chairman of SolarCity, he might have achieved a Triple Crown. The solar installation company has just become the first of its kind to offer bonds backed by rooftop solar panels. This financial innovation will allow solar companies to move away from becoming manufacturers and distributors of solar equipment, into energy companies, selling solar power as a service to their customers. The move is reminiscent of the move Xerox Corporation made back in the 60s, when they moved from selling copiers to selling copies by the click through leasing arrangements. The move proved to be critical to the company’s long-standing success. SolarCity sold $54.4 million worth of bonds last week based on the 68,000 contracts they currently hold. Bloomberg states that the company might raise an additional $200 million early next year.
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