From GigaOM (Apr. 8, 2013 – 8:20 AM PDT) There’s one area of solar that is going gangbusters in 2013, and that’s companies that are financing and installing solar panels on rooftops. On Monday morning solar financing startup Clean Power Finance announced that it has raised a round of $37 million in growth equity from investors including Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins and Claremont Creek Venture.

Odds are, it’s a pretty safe bet even for the venture capitalists that have been scared off by the lack of consistent returns in cleantech investing. Last year there were a record-breaking 3.3 gigawatts worth of solar panels — or 16 million individual solar panels — installed in the U.S., making solar power the fastest-growing energy source domestically, according to Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research.

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