U.S. solar financing set to rebound - experts

* Experts say financing to return to solar late this year

* Banking crisis had hurt project financing

* Tax equity markets starting to attract banks again

PHILADELPHIA, June 10 (Reuters) - Financial players who abandoned U.S. solar energy projects last year during the throes of the banking crisis are beginning to return, potentially setting up a boom of new deals by the end of the year, several solar investors said on Wednesday.

The 2008 collapse of top solar financier Lehman Brothers and the freeze-up in the global credit markets drove nearly all banks to halt funding for major new solar projects, forcing the makers of systems that turn sunlight into electricity to slash prices for their products and sending their stocks crashing.

Now, with financial markets stabilizing and fresh government incentives for clean energy, many banks are again eyeing the investments under which they fund solar power developments in exchange for renewable energy tax credits.

"Those that had left the market are beginning to come back, and come back in a big way," Matt Cheney, chief executive of Renewable Ventures, told the PV America conference.

That would be welcome news to companies such as SunPower Corp (SPWRA.O), Suntech Power Holdings (STP.N), SolarWorld AG(SWVG.DE) and others who have seen their share prices cut in half from highs reached last year.

Last week, U.S. Bancorp and privately held SolarCity announced they had teamed up to fund solar projects using the tax incentives to eliminate the purchase and installation costs for homes and businesses.