Zelfstroom leases solar panels to make rooftop solar accessible to more consumers. This company was recently acquired by a party looking to take the next step in the energy transition. The ASN Energy & Innovation Fund helped make this possible with financing.
The market for solar panels has been quite turbulent in recent years, especially in the residential segment. Price drops in the solar industry and the net metering scheme ensured a short payback period for homeowners, who purchased solar installations en masse. However, uncertainty about the future of the net metering scheme subsequently led to a significant decline in the number of new installations. It has since become clear that the ‘offsetting’ of electricity will end as of 2027.
Zelfstroom also felt the effects of this boom and bust in the solar market. Over ten years ago, it started with something that was groundbreaking at the time: leasing solar panels. This brought them within reach of homeowners who had a roof but did not immediately have the means to invest in solar panels.
Without a large upfront investment, they could look forward to lower energy costs thanks to a lease agreement. For a fixed monthly fee, Zelfstroom provided the solar panels and maintenance; after 10 or 15 years, customers can become owners of the panels for a fee, which last around 25 years. Zelfstroom has grown into the largest provider of solar panels via lease and rental in the Netherlands, with more than 21,500 customers. However, because the residential market for solar panels declined sharply, the recruitment of new tenants was suspended some time ago.
Recently, it gained an ambitious new owner who wants to help customers get more out of their solar panels. This is Green Impact Investing, the investment company of the two founders of energy company Greenchoice, who, together with managing partner Jeroen van der Beek, are building a portfolio of impact companies.
‘As entrepreneurs, they have been successful themselves and could have said: we’re going to enjoy it,’ says Van der Beek. ‘But they enjoy entrepreneurship itself more: getting things moving, doing cool new things. Moreover, they also feel it is their responsibility to put their capital to work in a good way.’
Together with installation company Saman Groep, which will henceforth handle all service and maintenance, and co-financed with a loan from the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund, Green Impact Investing acquired a large portfolio of long-term lease contracts with Zelfstroom that yield good returns. But the explicit intention is also to restart business development from Zelfstroom, says Van der Beek.
There is currently a run on home batteries, and Zelfstroom wants to start leasing them to its customers. ‘It is a great opportunity to help households with solar panels take the step towards more self-consumption.’
On average, households use only 30 percent of their solar power themselves; from 2027, the rest will go onto the grid without compensation. Van der Beek: ‘Every solar panel owner therefore wants to increase their own consumption. A home battery is the ultimate way to achieve that: you can use it to double your own consumption to 60 or 70 percent.’
Home batteries now form a market that, according to Van der Beek, is at the same point as that of solar panels seven years ago: prices are falling rapidly, but of the nearly three million homes with solar panels, very few have yet purchased such a battery.
For the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund, the ambition of Zelfstroom and Green Impact Investing fits perfectly with its objective: deploying capital to help further stimulate the energy transition, with the goal of greater energy security in the Netherlands and the reduction of fossil energy. The ASN Energy & Innovation Fund therefore provided a subordinated loan, which helped finance the acquisition.
‘From the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund, we want to continue supporting the rooftop solar sector,’ says fund analyst Anja van Gurp. ‘The tens of thousands of households that have solar panels on their roofs via Zelfstroom contribute daily to the essential decentralized energy generation in the Netherlands.’
The subordinated loan (junior debt) was an important pillar in the financing structure, says Van Gurp.
Van der Beek: ‘It was simply pleasant and efficient to work with the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund and their investment advisor StartGreen Capital. StartGreen Capital knows the energy business and relevant innovations inside out. Both partners work from a certain drive that inspires confidence.’
Erhan Yildiz, who was part of the deal team as Investment Director at StartGreen Capital, agrees. ‘This transaction clearly demonstrates where we add value: connecting capital with innovative business models in the energy transition.’
Furthermore, the intention is for the collaboration between the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund and the Zelfstroom owner to go beyond this financing. ‘Zelfstroom has built a unique position with rooftop solar via lease, and we see a lot of potential to further develop that customer base towards flexibility and self-consumption, for example with home batteries. Especially in a changing market, it is essential to build financing structures that provide room for that next step.’
As soon as the leasing of home batteries takes off and financing is required for that as well, it is logical that Van der Beek will approach the fund again.
Until now, discussions about the consumer market for solar panels have often focused on the payback period. Van der Beek prefers to draw attention to the bigger picture. Together, the roofs of all Zelfstroom customers generate so much electricity annually that approximately 13,400 tons of CO₂ emissions are avoided, along with an estimated 235 hectares of damage to biodiversity.
The millions of households already generating clean energy with solar panels will also be structurally better off after 2027: they are less dependent on fossil fuel prices, and the panels increase the value of the home through a better energy label alone. ‘The new energy crisis has not yet noticeably affected the electricity bills of many Dutch people, but it does make the vulnerability of our energy system more visible than ever.’
The tens of thousands of panel tenants are meanwhile a perfect starting point for Zelfstroom’s green ambitions – which align well with the vision of the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund. ‘We are building an ecosystem in which we help those people step-by-step further in the energy transition. For now, it’s adding a home battery that increases self-consumption, but things like smarter power management, a dynamic energy contract, and perhaps a charging station for the electric car are also part of it.’
‘The energy transition continues, even after January 1, 2027, and we want to guide consumers through it. With an honest and appropriate offer that leaves something at the bottom line. For the customer and for the investors in the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund. That’s how you keep the transition going.’
Our role in this deal.
The ASN Energy & Innovation Fund is managed by ASN Impact Investors. As the permanent Investment Advisor, we also supervised this financing.
More information about Zelfstroom
For more information, visit www.zelfstroom.nl
About the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund
The ASN Energy & Innovation Fund, with a portfolio of several hundred million euros, focuses on a wide variety of technologies essential for the energy system of the future. From energy storage and charging infrastructure to circular production and sustainable mobility – the fund offers customized financing via loans and equity. In this way, the energy transition in the Netherlands is accelerated and innovation for a sustainable society is stimulated.
Want to know more about the ASN Energy & Innovation Fund? Then view the fund page.
