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Mark Settles and Jim Spano | Improving Economics for Solar Developers with REIT Loans | #87

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These guys know solar. These guys know financing. Put that together and Sol-REIT, LLC (Sol-REIT) is a one stop shop for solar investors and developers to access capital and maximize returns with more control over each stage of the project.

Sol-REIT offers financing of construction loans for small to mid-sized solar project developers underserved in the market today. Sol-REIT will be the first firm to bring the proven mortgage REIT model to the solar industry, ushering in a new era of control and profitability for developers.

Mark Settles is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sol-REIT. Mark serves as a liaison with the firm’s Board of Directors, furnishes executive leadership across the firm and brings over 35 years of executive leadership, financial markets expertise and economics education experience to the firm.

Jim Spano is the Co-Founder and Head of Originations of Sol-REIT. Jim leads originations for the company's loan investments, as well as strategic business development relationship management with the company's solar developer and mortgage broker clients.

Listen in for an education in structured financing, its fundamental differences to traditional loans and how REIT-style loans previously reserved only for real estate can be favorable for a solar build.

Key Takeaways

How Sol-REIT came to be, started by solar developers, not bankers
Why Sol-REIT is the financing solution for small and mid-sized solar developers
How structured financing supports the developer by monetizing the value of getting a project to NTP
Why treating solar project financing similarly to real estate financing makes logical sense
The easiest way for a developer to maintain control over their cashflow for a project
Examples of how Sol-REIT’s depth of knowledge of solar far surpasses any other lender
How structured finance relies solely on the revenue of the project it is funding, not the revenue of the company as in typical financing
How Sol-REIT offers capital with zero to minimal sponsor equity requirement for the full term of the project
Why traditional financing options aren’t in line with the operational life of a typical solar project
How the REIT solution allows developers to own the project long-term and avoid selling to aggregators
How to eliminate the middleman and bring the project right to investment banks in half the time