Verengo Solar Plus of Orange, an installer of solar panels, has received a $9.7 million investment from Angeleno Group LLC, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm that targets alternative energy companies.
The money will be used for expanding services across California, according to Chief Executive Randy Bishop.
“When we started this company, we wanted to prove the business model locally and then expand,” he said. “We’re excited to begin this new phase with this financing.”
The company is installing 70 to 80 systems a month for homeowners, from affluent environmentalists to older folks on fixed incomes.
About half of the systems, which convert sunlight to clean electricity, are in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Verengo had sales of around $30 million in 2010, doubling what it did a year earlier.
The company expects to add nearly 200 workers in the next year as homeowners look to save money on energy bills by adding solar power, Bishop told the Business Journal.
The company now employs about 75 people.
In November, Verengo partnered with the banking arm of Wells Fargo & Co. to serve homeowners who accessed solar power financing, a pilot program the San Francisco-based company introduced in Southern California that broadened home equity loans and lines of credit through the end of 2010.
The solar industry is a fast-growing sector, spurred by government rebates and incentives, but it faces long-term issues with financing and affordability.
Smaller solar power systems can cost a few thousand dollars. Bigger ones easily can top six figures.
A typical system is around $40,000.
