Silicon Valley Bank: deposits safe but questions over impact on availability of capital for clean energy sector

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has raised questions around the availability of capital for the clean energy sector, having been a major actor in the space to-date including with Sunrun, Leap, AES, Cypress Creek Renewables and other developers. The bank went into receivership last week after customers withdrew deposits en-mass leaving it with a negative cash balance. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) quickly stepped in and transferred all deposits and all assets to a new ‘bridge bank’ entity – Silicon Valley Bridge Bank – allowing customers’ business to continue uninterrupted.