The U.S. unit of Rabobank Groep, the world’s biggest agricultural lender, created a fund to finance $50 million in residential rooftop solar-power systems installations by Sungevity Inc.

Sungevity is pursuing more than $175 million in projects, the Oakland, California-based company said in a statement. The fund announced today will finance solar systems on over 1,000 homes.

“Next year will be a big year for us after a banner year this year,” said Sungevity founder Danny Kennedy in an interview today. “We’ll continue to raise more funds through 2012.”

Residential solar energy is a “promising market opportunity and we are pleased to support its adoption in California and elsewhere in the U.S. through our new fund with Sungevity,” said Gianluca Signorelli, vice president at Rabobank N.A., in the statement.

Sungevity currently operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York and has leased more than 3,000 systems.

“It’s an incredible time to be in solar as it grows and becomes more affordable,” said Kennedy, whose company has tripled its staff over the last year to more than 300.