Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL), Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL)
SolarCity Challenges Xcel Energy (Greentech Media)
SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), one of the two biggest rooftop solar installers in the country, is now fighting soft costs one utility at a time. Its current nemesis is the Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), a subsidiary of Xcel Energy Inc (NYSE:XEL). “From an administrative standpoint, the Xcel Energy Solar*Rewards program is the most complex of the programs that SolarCity works with,” said Interconnection Director Laura Hannah. “It is also by far the slowest of the utilities that have comparable volumes.” Among the most costly of soft costs are the expenses incurred by solar installers due to time-consuming interconnection processes imposed by utilities.
As Los Angeles launches into its solar buyback program between companies and the L.A. Department of Water and Power, one rooftop power producer is exploring a way to avoid depending on utilities altogether. Lyndon Rive, chief executive of San Mateo, Calif.-based SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY), said in an interview this week that his rooftop solar company plans to roll out a system that would allow customers to generate power by panels during daylight hours and store the energy in battery packs at night.
Walmart brings the sun in Maryland with SolarCity (Clean Energy Authority)
Eight of Maryland’s Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) stores, and two of its Sams Clubs now have solar installed under a partnership with SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY). It’s the latest development as the world’s largest retailer seeks to become 100 percent renewably powered. Under the partnership, SolarCity has installed more than 3.1 megawatts of accumulative solar power on Walmart stores in Maryland. The installations are on stores in Arbutus, Berlin, California, Cockeysville, Fallston, Hagerstown, Laurel and Severn, as well as on Sam’s Club stores in Salisbury and Severn. The installations will provide between 5 percent and 20 percent of each store’s planned electric use, according to Solar City.
NASDAQ Gainers Watch List: SolarCity Corporation (NASDAQ:SCTY) and Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL) Added to Equity Profile Report’s NASDAQ Gainers Watch List. (SBWire)
Equity Profile Report expands its NASDAQ Gainers Weekly Watch List adding SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) and Real Goods Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:RSOL). SolarCity a company that engages in the design, installation, and sale or lease of solar energy systems to residential and commercial customers, and government entities in the United States closed up in its previous session (+6.77%) on 3,858,209 shares traded after SolarCity Introduced LightMount for Commercial Buildings. SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) is currently up (+347.83%) from its recent 52-week low which has prompted Equity Profile Report to add the stock to their NASDAQ Gainers Watch List.
Has SolarCity Created the Amazon 1-Click for Energy Efficiency? (Energy Collective)
After SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) shifted its energy efficiency strategy and pulled back from doing residential retrofits in-house, the solar services behemoth is moving straight into intelligent efficiency. GTM’s Eric Wesoff recently reported on SolarCity’s evolving business plan and the resulting changes that company executives say will scale residential efficiency in the same way solar services have scaled residential solar. But solar is very different from efficiency. For the most part, solar is very standardized and installations are uniform from home to home. Efficiency retrofits encompass an extraordinarily broad category of activities and skills. Incentives are also quite different for efficiency, making it more complicated from a financial perspective. That’s why only a handful of U.S. solar contractors have offered efficiency as an in-house service.
