How solar installers can navigate a shifting financing landscape — and win at the kitchen table.
The expiration of the Section 25D tax credit, the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), and FIAT compliance complexity have combined to help fundamentally change how resi solar is financed. The expected rush to third-party ownership (TPO) has been trending up, but, prepaid TPO has entered the chat, and homeowners have another option to learn about.
At Aurora’s Empower event, our own Jess Lyons, Staff Product Manager, sat down with three leading financing executives — Troy Roble (SVP of Business Development, LightReach), Stephen Pollock (CEO, Participate Energy), and Mike Gilroy (CEO, Sungage Financial) — to talk through what’s actually working, what has promise, and what needs to change. Their conversation kept returning to an important theme: The installers who are thriving aren’t pushing homeowners toward one product, they’re listening to customers so they can find the right fit for each household.
Start with the spectrum, not the product
Stephen Pollock offered a good framework for thinking about financing options not as competing products, but as a spectrum.
“On one side of the bookend is pure cash — ownership, control, transparency, upside. On the complete opposite end is a zero-down TPO — full wrap, no money down, everything’s taken care of. Both are good value propositions. They’re just distinct.”
— Stephen Pollock, CEO, Participate Energy
Between those bookends sit loans, leases & PPAs, and prepaid leases — each capturing elements of ownership through TPO. Understanding where a given customer fits on that spectrum is the starting point for every financing conversation.
Mike Gilroy drove the point home using an analogy about cars: Most homeowners with solid credit are buyers, not lessees. They’re used to owning the major assets in their lives.
“For the major purchases in the lives of a 760 FICO homeowner, they’re used to controlling the assets in their lives,” he explained. “They’re used to purchasing.”
Going into a solar conversation assuming a customer wants a lease just because of the tax credit is starting in the wrong place. It starts with what matters to the homeowner in respect to monthly payments, ownership options, and what they qualify for.
Flexibility is the strategy
In a volatile market — and this one has certainly been volatile! — the instinct is often to pick a lane and stay in it. The panelists pushed back on that impulse.
Stay nimble, keep your head on the swivel, anticipate what’s coming down the road in the future, have contingency plans, and communicate when challenges come and work together.
— Troy Roble SVP of Business Development, LightReach
Mike Gilroy pointed to the broader arc: The market went from roughly three-quarters loan and cash just a few years ago, to flirting with three-quarters TPO today. Who knows what it will be a few years down the road. The most resilient installers treat this diversification of options as a deliberate strategy rather than simply reacting to a crisis.
Practically, that means building your team’s knowledge and your lender relationships across all three product categories — so that when the market shifts, you’re not starting from zero.
Conviction closes
A consistent theme was that product knowledge alone isn’t enough. The salesperson has to believe in what they’re presenting.
“When the salespeople and the installer believe in it and are able to convey it convincingly — and really explain why they believe so strongly in that approach — that is when the customers believe it. It needs to be authentic.”
— Stephen Pollock, CEO, Participate Energy
Troy Roble echoed this, pointing to some installers who have found success not by offering more options, but by simplifying their message around one product they truly understand — in some cases, going back to a straightforward flat-rate loan with no escalator. “They’re starting to have some success with that because they’re simplifying the message,” he said.
This doesn’t mean that installers should limit themselves to one product. It’s that they need to understand every product in the portfolio deeply enough to present it with clarity. If your team can’t explain a prepaid lease confidently, it won’t sell, no matter how competitive the numbers are.
What it looks like in practice
For installers looking to put these ideas to work, the panel pointed to a few concrete starting points:
- Build a portfolio across product types. TPO, prepaid, and loan — so your reps can match to the customer rather than push them toward whatever you happen to carry. As more financing options emerge, look at the customers they are best fit for and how to offer them.
- Train for conviction, not just compliance. Your team needs to understand each product well enough to present it authentically. Confused salespeople produce confused customers.
- Listen first at the kitchen table. Start the conversation by understanding what the homeowner values — ownership and control, simplicity and service, or something in between — before you introduce a product.
- Get familiar with FEOC compliance. If you’re selling TPO or prepaid products, understanding which equipment combinations qualify matters more than ever.
- Design systems that meet customer needs. Some homeowners prioritize bill savings, others may focus on backup energy and grid resilience. Referrals and long-term reputation, and access to capital, depend on the homeowner getting what you promised them.
Watch the full session on demand
The full conversation goes much deeper — including a Q&A on VPP benefits for TPO customers, specific product offerings, the typical payback period for prepaid leases, and thoughts on cleaning up solar. To get the complete picture of where residential solar financing is headed and how to position your business for it, and get a free NABCEP CEU, click the link below.
