VentureBeat

In another sign of the torrid growth of solar services — the industry that moves solar cells from manufacturers to their new homes on rooftops and in utility installations — Recurrent Energy has secured $75 million from a private equity firm to expand its business.

Recurrent is the firm behind projects like San Francisco’s planned 5-megawatt municipal installation, which will be installed and owned by the company, with the city buying electricity at a set rate. The large financing reflects the large projects Recurrent wants to take on; the company leaves household installations to firms like Solarcity and SunRun.

There’s plenty of evidence that the commercial and government markets Recurrent wants to serve are taking as strong an interest as homeowners are in solar. From Google to Wal-Mart, large corporations have shown an interest in blanketing their rooftops with solar panels. Big institutions like airports and universities have also seen the benefit in using solar to help alleviate peak daytime energy prices.

That leaves plenty of room for Recurrent and its competitors to expand. One of its main competitors, SunEdison, recently took on $161 million to build up its own business, which includes building big solar farms for utilities.

The backer in this funding was Hudson Clean Energy Partners, which noted that it could be “just the beginning of an even larger financing relationship.” Recurrent is based in San Francisco, Calif.