CA Companies: Install solar. Save money from day one. No upfront investment.
Solar City is a California-based startup company that offers its solar-related services to homeowners, businesses and government. “Install solar. Save money from day one. No upfront investment. And you have a predictable forecast of what your power costs will be for the next 20 years” is their selling proposition. The company’s customer base includes 10,000 homeowners, companies such as Intel and eBay, over 75 schools and universities, and government agencies. Solar City provides solar system financing, design, installation and monitoring.
Lyndon Rive is the CEO of Solar City, and his brother Peter Rive is its chief operating officer. They founded the company in 2006.
Solar City is one of many companies that allow lease of solar equipment; the others include SunRun and Sungevity. All are CA-based companies, and for good reason. According to Lyndon, over half of the estimated 80,000 US homes with rooftop solar are situated in the area covered by PG&E Corp., a solar-friendly utility company which has invested in both Solar City and SunRun.
Solar City does not see SunRun or Sungevity as big competition says Lydon. If anything, increase in solar on roofs, regardless of who installs it, should move the category forward. “Our primary competitor is the homeowner doing nothing,” he stated. “The market is not saturated.”
Very few homes have solar panels on their roofs due to many reasons. The average startup costs are around $30,000. Majority of people don’t know how to shop for panels at all. Who would they hire for installing these panels? What happens when the sun gets blocked? Or when the panels break?
Lydon and Peter focused on those adoption barriers when they started the company. According to Lydon, “Solar is a market that can really scale.” The focus of other companies was on manufacturing and researching new technologies, but none, in those days, was focusing on the mechanism for delivering the product on a big scale. Their vision was to develop the first national consumer-focused solar brand.
According to Lyndon, there were not really any models for brand that offers services for the home. Undeterred, they took the first steps in making rooftop solar as easy as possible.
So far, the company is operating in California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and Oregon. They chose these five states because they have generous state subsidies, or ample sunlight, or high utility bills–ideally all of the three. Under the right circumstances, leasing of panels costs little or nothing upfront and the panels immediately help save 10% to 15% on utility bills.
Two announcements made recently by the company put a spotlight on it. Last month, Solar City announced that it got the contract for supplying thin-film solar panels to 20 to 30 Walmart stores in California and Arizona. Last week, the company said that homeowners will be able to lease energy efficiency products and services along with solar.
