SolarCity Launches fund for U.S. Solar Projects

SolarCity Corp has started a fund that includes an investment from Credit Suisse to finance more than $1 billion in commercial solar energy systems for companies, schools and government organizations in the United States.

The fund is expected to finance more than 300 megawatts of new commercial solar projects over the next two years, SolarCity said in a statement on Wednesday.

SolarCity, the top U.S. residential solar installer by market share, said it finalized the deal with Credit Suisse in February and began funding projects in March.

The fund was created to finance projects that utilize new SolarCity technologies, said the company, which is backed by Tesla Motors Inc founder Elon Musk.

"SolarCity has installed more than 1,800 commercial solar projects in 21 states, and we've barely scratched the surface of the addressable market," Chief Financial Officer Brad Buss said.

(Reporting by Sneha Banerjee