NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Google announced another investment in companies selling rooftop solar panels Tuesday, putting $75 million into a fund that solar contractors and designers can draw on to finance solar systems for homeowners.
Contractors get cheap financing from the fund and pay a commission from each sale.
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Administered by Clean Power Finance, the fund allows installers and designers of solar power systems to offer their customers rooftop solar panels for little or no money down.
Then, instead of paying an electric bill to the power company, homeowners send a monthly payment to Clean Power Finance who passes the check along to Google.
Ultimately, Google owns the panels and is also able to take the various state, local and federal tax credits associated with them.
"This allows companies [like Google] to invest in a space that makes a lot of sense," said said Rick Needham, Google's head of green business. "It creates jobs, it puts clean energy onto rooftops, and it allows homeowners to pay lower bills."
The funding will put solar panels on 2,000 to 3,000 homes.
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Clean Power Finance is a startup firm that runs a software platform connecting small solar installers with financing. It currently works with over 1,400 solar installers, and has received financial backing from by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Google Ventures and Claremont Creek Ventures.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is the second company to create a fund with Clean Power, but who the other investor involved is, and how much was invested in the first round of funding was not made public.
Google wouldn't comment on the returns it expects to get on its money, but Clean Power CEO Nat Kreamer said investors can typically expect a payback in the high single or low double digit percentage points.
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