BRINGING SOLAR TO MORE HOMES

NewEnergyNews originally visited with Lyndon Rive, co-founder of SolarCity, last September: SOLAR POWER 2007: DAY 1…. Since then, SolarCity has continued to grow and continued to face the cost challenges mentioned in the September interview.

SolarCity now employs 222 people and it is growing. More importantly, it is building a training academy in San Francisco’s low-income Bayview-Hunters Point area. It intends to train 30 green collar workers in its first year and 60 in its second year.

The next big challenge: The $3.3 billion California Solar Initiative (CSI) has subsidized 30% of the cost of solar installations but was designed to give the biggest rewards to early adopters. The subsidy has now dropped to 20%, making installations more expensive. Though the subsidy has successfully driven scale and brought market prices down somewhat, Rive expects his customers’ price to go up 5% to 10% over the next 18 months.

Rive is still looking for the opportunity: “We’re trying to come up with innovative ways to keep up with subsidiary reduction…Our next goal is continuing innovation so that every home and business can adopt solar power…”

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The next level of solar energy
Shayla Durrett, March 3, 2008 (San Mateo Daily Journal)

WHO
Lyndon and Peter Rive, founders, SolarCity (and founders, software company Everdream); Ann Iverson, task force member, San Carlos Green

As California's solar incentive program generates more installed megawatts, the subsidy diminishes and a system's cost goes up. (click to enlarge)

WHAT
- Community Solar Program, created by SolarCity, aims to increase solar system use by gathering neighboring residents into groups to purchase systems with volume discounts.

WHEN
- In Summer 2007, SolarCity arranged a 21-solar system installation project for San Carlos Green.
- By the end of 2008, the Rives intend to have SolarCity branches in 6 to 7 states.

WHERE
- SolarCity is based in the San Francisco area. The company has operations throughout California and, more recently, in Arizona and Oregon.
- San Carlos is San Francisco area suburban/commuter community.
- The Rives are from South Africa.

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WHY
- SolarCity is the outgrowth of the Rives’ 2006 perception the need and opportunity in the solar energy industry was in installation.
- San Carlos Green aims to make the community more energy efficient.
- As in San Carlos, grouping homes obtains discounts for system installations of 15% to 20%.
- The Rives add value and marketing clout by arranging remote-monitoring capacity to the systems they install, allowing homeowners to see on their home computers the solar system output and cost savings.

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QUOTES
- Lyndon Rive: “We realized that solar energy is one place that can have a scalable environmental impact…Our vision is to make it so anyone who wants to adopt clean power can do so in a clean, safe and reliable way,”
- Iverson, San Carlos Green: “SolarCity was the first company that was providing this Community Solar Program…It was a brilliant marketing strategy.”
- Iverson, on the remote monitoring feature: “It’s a great service that a lot of other companies don’t provide…I think it’s a big selling point for SolarCity.”