SolarCity – statistics and facts

Konrad Wolfenstein

4 years ago

Tesla, Zep Solar and Stanford University with Google, eBay, Intel and Walmart

SolarCity – Image: Xpert.Digital & ZHMURCHAK|Shutterstock.com

SolarCity is a US public company headquartered in San Mateo, California, that designs, sells, installs and, if desired, finances, rents and operates solar power systems. It also supplies electricity and plans, installs and operates charging stations for electric cars. The company was acquired by Tesla in 2016.

SolarCity was founded in July 2006 by Peter and Lyndon Rive. The company was based on a concept proposed by Elon Musk, current chairman of the company and cousin of the two brothers. Musk is also CEO and CTO of SpaceX and CEO and product architect at Tesla Motors. Since its inception, SolarCity has grown into one of the leading residential solar companies in the United States.

SolarCity's headquarters are currently located in San Mateo, California, but the company also has more than 75 local operations centers across the country. The company serves customers in 19 states and has helped install solar systems for homeowners, schools such as Stanford University, government agencies, and commercial customers such as Walmart.

SolarCity offers a variety of products and services through a distributed service model. In addition to solar technology, the company is also active in the market for charging electric cars. Through a partnership with Rabobank, SolarCity enabled Tesla vehicle owners to charge electric cars for free along Route 101 in California, between Los Angeles and San Francisco. On the energy storage front, SolarCity has also launched a pilot program to test the Tesla and Panasonic's Powerwall storage device in 500 California homes.

A number of well-known investors support SolarCity, and its most prominent financing partners include Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. In 2011, SolarCity and Google established a $280 million fund to finance U.S. residential solar installations. In 2015, nearly $161 billion was invested in solar energy technologies worldwide.

At the beginning of 2013, SolarCity was the second largest US company in this field with 333 megawatts of installed solar power capacity (behind First Solar and ahead of E Light Wind and Solar and Quanta Power Generation). The company operated with 31 offices in 14 US states at the end of 2013. In addition to tens of thousands of homeowners, its customers include over 100 schools and universities, including Stanford University, government institutions such as the US Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security, and large corporations such as eBay, Intel and Walmart.

In 2015, SolarCity installed 502 megawatts, third in the United States behind First Solar (1,023 megawatts) and Mortenson Construction with 512 megawatts.[5]

In 2016, SolarCity installed a system on the island of Taʻū in American Samoa to provide electricity in a more environmentally friendly way, as the island previously relied on diesel generators to meet its needs. The solar system delivers 1.4 megawatts and the energy is stored in 60 Tesla power packs with a total capacity of 6 megawatt hours.

On November 21, 2016, the company was acquired by Tesla for $2.6 billion.

According to its own statement, the company has now equipped more than 300,000 houses with solar systems.

In October 2013, Solar City acquired its assembly technology supplier Zep Solar for $158 million. The company, founded in 2009, will continue to operate as an independent business unit.

Zep Solar was founded in 2009 by Jack West, Christina Manansala and Daniel Flanigan with backing from Silicon Valley investment firm Aquillian Investments. The company's goal was to develop and produce solid and very easy-to-handle mounting frames and connecting elements for solar panels for all possible roof shapes or other mounting locations. By significantly reducing assembly costs, a contribution should be made to promoting the energy transition towards renewable energies. In 2013, Zep Solar produced a wide range of mounting elements and had also licensed to 12 solar module manufacturers (for frames) and solar panel manufacturers.

SolarCity Corp – Statistics and Facts

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