Environmental Leader

It was announced last week that Morgan Stanley will own and finance solar electric power systems totaling more than four megawatts that SunPower will deploy on seven Wal-Mart facilities in California.

The SunPower solar systems are part of Wal-Mart’s broader initiative to reduce the company’s environmental footprint, and are expected to provide an average of 25 percent of Wal-Mart’s energy usage at each of the seven facilities.

The financing agreement was secured under the SunPower Access program, which allows SunPower customers to purchase solar-generated electricity from a SunPower financing partner as an alternative to outright purchase of the solar power systems themselves.

The customer pays the financing partner for the solar electricity generated over a long-term power purchase agreement. At the end of the term specified under the agreement, the customer typically has the option to renew the agreement, transfer the equipment to a new site, or purchase the system outright from the financing partner.