153: How Sunstone Credit is providing debt financing for an underserved market in solar?

Solar Maverick Podcast

Episode Summary.

In this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast, Benoy speaks with Josh Goldberg who is Co-Founder and CEO of Sunstone Credit. Sunstone Credit provides flexible financing solutions for businesses of all sizes, offering solar loans with borrower-friendly terms and an efficient application process. Josh speaks about many interesting topics like how higher interest rates has impacted lending, how Sunstone is more innovative on C&I solar financing compared to banks, and which states are the best for C&I solar financing. .

Benoy Thanjan

Benoy Thanjan is the Founder and CEO of Reneu Energy and he is also an advisor for several solar startup companies. He has extensive project origination, development, and financial experience in the renewable energy industry and in the environmental commodities market.

This includes initial site evaluation, permitting, financing, sourcing equipment, and negotiating the long-term energy and environmental commodities off-take agreements. He manages due diligence processes on land, permitting, and utility interconnection and is in charge of financing
and structuring through Note to Proceed (“NTP”) to Commercial Operation Date (“COD”). Benoy composes teams suitable for all project development and construction tasks. He is also involved in project planning and pipeline financial modeling. He has been part of all sides of the
transaction and this allows him to provide unique perspectives and value. Benoy has extensive experience in financial engineering to make solar projects profitable.

Before founding Reneu Energy, he was the SREC Trader in the Project Finance Group for SolarCity which merged with Tesla in 2016. He originated SREC trades with buyers and co-developed their SREC monetization and hedging strategy with the senior management of SolarCity to move into the east coast markets.

Benoy was the Vice President at Vanguard Energy Partners which is a national solar installer where he focused on project finance solutions for commercial scale solar projects. He also worked for Ridgewood Renewable Power, a private equity fund, where he analyzed potential investments in renewable energy projects and worked on maximizing the financial return of the projects in the portfolio. Benoy also worked on the sale of all of the renewable energy projects in Ridgewood’s portfolio.

He was in the Energy Structured Finance practice for Deloitte & Touche and in Financial Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young. Benoy received his first experience in Finance as an intern at D.E. Shaw & Co., which is a global investment firm with 37 billion dollars in investment capital. He has a MBA in Finance from Rutgers University and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Benoy was an Alumni Scholar at the Stern School of Business.

Josh Goldberg

Josh has spent the past 15+ years founding and operating businesses in the solar installation, development and financing space including Astrum Solar and Sunlight Financial. He also co-founded Legends of Learning. Having been a solar installer and business owner himself, Josh is passionate about supporting both Sunstone’s solar developer partners, and the commercial customers they serve, through Sunstone’s mission. Josh started his career as an M&A lawyer.

Stay Connected:

Benoy Thanjan

Email: [e-mail]

LinkedIn: Benoy Thanjan

Website: https://www.reneuenergy.com

Josh Goldberg

Email: [e-mail]

Website: https://www.sunstonecredit.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuamgoldberg/

We would like to thank our sponsor Schwerd Consulting for sponsoring this episode of the Solar Maverick Podcast.

Schwerd Consulting is a leading solar consulting firm dedicated to design, engineering, owner representation and technical consulting in all areas of solar photovoltaics and energy storage for the Commercial & Industrial and Utility markets. At Schwerd Consulting we like to say that We Know Solar. We don’t just Do Solar. What sets us apart is our 100% focus on solar, while having an extensive background in building and utility engineering, and understanding the business of our clients. We are involved with the trends, technologies, vendors, policies, utilities, codes, and financial considerations for the industry. Therefore, value add for us is not just a slogan, it’s what we practice in order to have loyal customers and gain trust.

In its 9 years of business, Schwerd Consulting has provided services for approximately 1 GW of PV across over 800 sites and 17 US states plus the Caribbean. Let Schwerd Consulting take the burden off you and bring ease and expertise in all areas of Engineering & Design or help you navigate the technical world of solar. If you are interested in learning more about Schwerd Consulting, you can call 215-219-6718 or email to admin@schwerdconsulting. Schwerd Consulting’s website is www.schwerdconsulting.com.