Solar Lease & PPA Providers

Solar leases and power purchase agreements (PPAs) are two 3rd-party ownership options that allow consumers to install solar energy systems without the upfront cost. Solar PPAs and leases allow non-profit organizations with no tax liability to take advantage of tax-related incentives, such as investment tax credits and accelerated depreciation.

What is a Solar Lease or PPA?

A solar lease is very much like a car lease, where you lease the equipment for a set period of time and benefit from the electricity or heated water it produces during that lease period. A power purchase agreement is similar, although with a PPA you only pay for the energy your solar system produces. It’s like paying for a car by the mile. In both cases, you’re essentially hosting a solar power system on your roof that is owned by a 3rd party and enjoying all its environmental benefits with little or no upfront payment. The PPA or lease payment is typically structured in a way that the power generated by the system costs less ($/kWh or $/therm) than that of the local utility company.

Soliciting Bids

When considering installing a solar system on your property, the Department of the Environment recommends obtaining at least three bids before making your selection. There are important considerations for home or building owners who are considering a solar PPA or lease, because a third-party leasing or PPA provider will own the sysetm. Visit CALSEIA for suggested questions to ask solar PPA and lease providers.

Solar PPA and Lease Providers in San Francisco

Residential
Clean Power Finance [cleanpowerfinance.com]
One Roof Energy [oneroofenergy.com]
SolarCity [solarcity.com]
Sungevity [sungevity.com]
Sun Run [sunrunhome.com]

Commercial | Government | Non-profit
Clean Source Power [cleansourcepower.com]
Envision Solar [envisionsolar.com]
Green Energy Finder [greenenergyfinder.com]
Helio Micro Utility (Helio mU) [heliomu.com]
LightWind Energy [lightwindenergy.com]
Main Street Power [mainstreetpower.com]
MMA Renewable Ventures [renewableventures.com]
MP2 Capital [mp2capital.com]
Photon Energy Services [photonenergyservices.com]
PVOne [pvone.com]
RE-volv [re-volv.org]
Recurrent Energy [recurrentenergy.com]
Solar Mosaic [solarmosaic.com]
Solar Power Partners [solarpowerpartners.com]
SolarCity [solarcity.com]
Sun Edison [sunedison.com]
SunPower Corp [sunpowercorp.com]
Tioga Energy [tiogaenergy.com]

Commercial Solar Water Heating
Skyline Innovations [skylineinnovations.com]
SunWater Solar [sunwatersolar.com]

This list contains all the solar lease and PPA providers in San Francisco that the SF Department of the Environment is aware of. The inclusion or exclusion of companies listed does not reflect in any way the quality of service or workmanship of any PPA or lease provider offering their services to San Francisco property owners. Furthermore, the City and County of San Francisco neither endorses nor assumes liability for the quality of work performed by any of these companies. If your company is not listed here and would like to be, please send your request to be added to renewables@sfgov.org.