SunPower Corp. announced on January 28th a new program with Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA Merrill) that will provide financing to support approximately $220 million of residential solar lease projects. The program will assist thousands of homeowners in financing solar power systems through SunPower solar leases, joining approximately 20,000 Americans currently enrolled in the program.

"The SunPower Lease program allows customers to have high efficiency solar on their rooftops with highly competitive terms. This, coupled with our unprecedented level of energy assurance, results in more value to the homeowner and increased retained value to SunPower," said the company's CFO, Chuck Boynton. "More than 20,000 customers are already experiencing our lease program, and our partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch will continue to grow this popular financing option."

BofA Merrill and SunPower have worked together since 2009, when BofA Merrill began financing large solar projects SunPower designed and constructed for public agencies in California, including Yolo County and Mendocino Community College.

"We are pleased to again team with SunPower to further the availability of renewable energy," said Todd Karas, head of Renewable Energy Finance at BofA Merrill. "With this investment in residential solar systems, we are expanding our portfolio of solar installations with SunPower beyond commercial and government entities to now include installations in individual homes. This is consistent with our firm's overall 10-year, $50 billion environmental business initiative to help address climate change, reduce demands on natural resources and advance lower-carbon economic solutions."

In addition to attractive terms and low monthly payments, the SunPower Lease includes one of the solar industry's only direct-from-manufacturer performance guarantees.