by kleinbl00

The solar bond market is still small, but it is now starting to attract larger traditional investors, said Rob Camacho, co-head of structured credit at Blackstone. “This market is going to grow a lot, so you have money managers willing to spend time on it,” he said.

BlackRock Inc., the largest fund management company in the world, has begun buying solar bonds, a person familiar with the matter said.

As the market expands, so could the risk in the loans backing solar bonds. The average FICO score of solar loan borrowers is roughly 745, but “there’s definitely the possibility that the industry will expand to borrowers that are in the lower credit spectrum,” said Melvin Zhou, an analyst at Kroll Bond Rating Agency LLC.

Increased government support is playing a part in the industry’s growth, said Bryan White, a solar analyst at market research firm Wood Mackenzie. The 26% federal investment tax credit on residential solar panels is slated to expire fully in 2024, but the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress are working on extending that by as much as eight years through the current budget reconciliation process, he said.

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