BOULDER, Colo.–Namasté Solar, an employee-owned solar-energy firm here, said it is seeking to form a clean energy credit union that would make loans to its customers, among other things, after it raised $3.1 million from more than 90 investors in a private offering of nonvoting preferred stock.
The company said it will also use the funds for working capital, the national expansion of its commercial and utility-scale solar-energy division, and other new initiatives in addition to the credit union, according to BizWest.com.
Namasté Solar designs, installs and maintains solar-electric systems throughout the United States for commercial, nonprofit, government and residential customers. It also has offices in New York and California.
Blake Jones, co-founder of Namasté Solar, told BizWest.com that many of Namasté’s customers over the years have had a difficult time securing loans through conventional banks for clean-energy projects.
“We’ve been working on securing a federal charter for about three years to open a nonprofit credit union to serve those types of customers,” Blake said. “We expect to receive our charter sometime this summer. We’ll have a national footprint, but the credit union will be based in Colorado.”
Blake told BizWest.com that loans will be made not only for residential and commercial solar installations, but also for purchases of used electric vehicles and energy-efficient home-improvement projects.