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SolarCity (SCTY)

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SolarCity Introduces its First Community Solar Option for Renters - NASDAQ.com

This is a really promising sort of development, community solar. So far SolarCity's business model has focused on home owners dwelling in single family homes with good south facing roofs. About a third of the US population are renters, and there are many condo owners in multi-unit housing as well. Community solar bridges these limitations, bringing SolarCity's financial product strength and microgrid capabilities into play. So I see this as a very good step toward addressing a much larger market and diversifying their business model.

I think this also shows the kind of utility partnership with utilities that Lyndon Rive has been talking about. For SolarCity to address wider markets it needs access to distribution services. This is why grid defections I'd a bad policy outcome for SolarCity. The company needs to be able to offer shared solar power and battery backup.

I wonder if this has to do with new commercial zep mounting. I think that is more for flat roof applications but I am not sure. I also wander if this has anything to do with them getting into the manufacturing business. I think Silevo panels will make a very be very compelling in "community solar gardens".

This first announcement is targeting up to 100 Mw of these at 1 Mw each with the total US installation last year at around 86. It is exciting to see how fast they are entering new markets within their main business unit but also creating new areas of growth.
 
I wonder if this has to do with new commercial zep mounting. I think that is more for flat roof applications but I am not sure. I also wander if this has anything to do with them getting into the manufacturing business. I think Silevo panels will make a very be very compelling in "community solar gardens".

This first announcement is targeting up to 100 Mw of these at 1 Mw each with the total US installation last year at around 86. It is exciting to see how fast they are entering new markets within their main business unit but also creating new areas of growth.

I think the Zep mounting is for large flat roofs. Their is another company involved with this deal that seems to have more experience with ground mounted systems. I should hope that not all of these solar gardens will be ground mounted systems. I'd like to see the roofs of apartment building used. Also solar canopies over parking areas could be attractive. In urban areas, ground mounted systems just don't seem like good land use to me.
 
:rolleyes:
Rural counties outside the twin cities. They are not moving electrons from the panels to the apartments. They are simply connecting to xcels grid. It doesn't matter what equipment they use. What matters is the cost per watt.

And what equipment they use directly influences cost per watt. This is why they acquired Zep mounting, because it shaved pennies off their installed cost per watt.
 
:rolleyes:
Rural counties outside the twin cities. They are not moving electrons from the panels to the apartments. They are simply connecting to xcels grid. It doesn't matter what equipment they use. What matters is the cost per watt.

Minnesota renters sign up for the Solarcity electricity, they get cheaper rates for the clean electricity. That's it, that's the sell. The panels will be off in a field somewhere, xcel charges Solarcity for the use of the poles and wires to get to the renters. Renters pay the Solarcity rate which is lower then standard excel prices. Done deal.

The clever part about this is this is exactly what Solarcity envisions the future to be, just the next step is combining all the different elements (home, commercial, industrial roof top) with utility poles and wires as well as large scale utitlity clean energy.

Solarcity is working so many different levels right now it's pretty creative, cunning, and ambitious. Roof top solar, micro grids, and variations there of(solar gardens) all the while changing policy and long entrenched energy business models... And it appears surprisingly they are quite successful in its nimble execution of this intense simultaneous balancing act.
 
Minnesota renters sign up for the Solarcity electricity, they get cheaper rates for the clean electricity. That's it, that's the sell. The panels will be off in a field somewhere, xcel charges Solarcity for the use of the poles and wires to get to the renters. Renters pay the Solarcity rate which is lower then standard excel prices. Done deal.

The clever part about this is this is exactly what Solarcity envisions the future to be, just the next step is combining all the different elements (home, commercial, industrial roof top) with utility poles and wires as well as large scale utitlity clean energy.

Solarcity is working so many different levels right now it's pretty creative, cunning, and ambitious. Roof top solar, micro grids, and variations there of(solar gardens) all the while changing policy and long entrenched energy business models... And it appears surprisingly they are quite successful in its nimble ex
ecution of this intense simultaneous balancing act.

You forgot their quest to become the largest high efficiency panel manufacturer in the world!
 
About Zep mounting brackets

I was discussing the Zep system with a Solar City regional supervisor last week; this is my takeaway from our discussion. Please correct my understandings if anyone knows differently.

1. The Zep system initially was appropriate for pitched roof applications, and not for flat roofs. Thus, it was conceived as mostly to be used for single-family residences.
2. It consists of little more than a support bracket along the bottom of the lowermost set of PV panels that looks similar to a 90º roof flashing, plus hockeypuck-like support nodes for the corners of each panel - one puck may support as many as four four panels' corners as they are very close-mounted.
3. Panels are snapped into final position by first dropping them into their lower edge supports, then angling them onto their upper supports. Wiring connected as needed before the next row goes on.

It is extremely easy and fast - it reduces installation time by an amazing amount. The disadvantage is that if an "inner", non-exposed panel fails, there is significantly more disassembly time needed than in traditional systems. But the tradeoff for the upfront very low cost of installation far exceeds that rare occurrence.

I found a video here: Two Solar Panel System Installations, One Crew, One Day – We Are SolarCity - YouTube Pause it at, e.g., 0:35, 0:45 and 1:35 to get a fair view of the lower support and the corner hockeypucks.

Now, Zep has been altered to be used on flat commercial roofs. To my eyes, it differs significantly from the original but it retains its toolless,snap-together features. Here is a discussion of its advantage from an Oct 2014 Solar City site:
The dense, east-west orientation makes it possible to install 20 percent more panels on standard roofs, and the lightweight, aerodynamic design can allow installers to place up to 50 percent more panels on some warehouses and other roofs that aren’t designed to support much weight. ZS Peak’s east-west orientation also allows it to extend peak power production over a longer period of the day, and make more efficient use of inverters.


I haven't been able to determine if the system needs the special frame configuration that would be unique to Silevo panels or whether some/many/most other PV panels can be used in a Zep system.

Hope this helps.
 
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1 Sign of SolarCity's Success (SCTY)

Good little story on SolarCity's gross margin. As with Tesla and other high growth companies, discipline around gross margin is very important. Any company doubling revenue ever 12 to 30 months is going to spend a ton on SG&A and likely R&D too. Much of that spending is in anticipation of operation at at much larger scale than current revenue, but solid gross margin is necessary to catch up and continue to fuel growth.
 
Real-time data on Solarcity installs and power output from all systems nation wide...

SolarCity Now

within 10 minutes of 9am pdt, two new systems turned on, a new customer signed, and 700mwh of output (thus far this morning).

This is very cool. I wish Tesla had something like this.

Getting back to the community solar idea again, I am wondering if ordinary rooftop installations can participate in this scheme. For example, suppose I am a SFR homeowner who needs a 7 kW system, but have a roof good for 10 kW. Can SolarCity go ahead and install 10 kW where 7 kW serves my needs and the other 3 kW goes to community solar. Moreover, any kWh beyond what I consume also goes to community solar. I get compensated for the extra 3kW of roof space I contribute and for surplus kWh. This enables SolarCity to make a bigger sale on my roof, which improves their economics. Also the utility is off the hook for any net metering, as I am selling to community subscribers, and the use of transmission and distribution resources is minimal, as the power originates close to consumption. It's a win for everyone, except power generators who are losing marketshare to solar. If this is the sort of opportunity for SolarCity, then this project could also energize their their whole business. Imagine the marketing value along of being able to tell potential customers with their own roofs that their installation will also reduce energy prices for renters in their community. This could be a decisive selling point for some community minded prospects.
 
Great thoughts jhm. To add one more advantage of such "community add on" solar; it could greatly facilitate solar installations in situations where one individual wants to do it but is stopped by for example a sceptical home owners association.
 
Another cool possibility for community solar is the integration of energy storage. At the solar gardens, Powerpacks could be installed. This would be lower cost storage than Powerwalls and would assure that all the energy is consumed by subscribers throughout the day and night. Additionally, subscribers could install Powerwalls at their own homes for back up and these can be aggregated to assure self consumption across all subscribers. While this would cost and extra $100 or so per kWh over the cost of Powerpacks, the advantages of backup power, peak shaving and location may be worth the extra expense. Another curious posibility for the Powerpacks at the solar gardens is that they can can do some rate arbitrage if they are able to charge at night from three grid.
 
Great thoughts jhm. To add one more advantage of such "community add on" solar; it could greatly facilitate solar installations in situations where one individual wants to do it but is stopped by for example a sceptical home owners association.

So you're thinking about how the benefits to the wider community can make a more compelling case to HOAs. I've looked at the variety of roofs in my neighborhood. A large fraction of homes in my HOA would not be good candidates for solar. There are natural inequities of opportunity. So I could see those with poor roofs for solar getting upset about other neighbors getting solar and perhaps compromise home values for everyone. But when all neighbors can benefit from solar on a few roofs, it becomes more acceptable.

I actually think it could be very good for SolarCity to market directly to HOAs. This is why I like microgrids. Make a microgrid of the whole neighborhood and drive down costs for everyone. Moreover shared amenities like street lights, a club house or swimming pool can get power for free from the microgrid. Shared EV charging infrastructure could also be a terrific amenity for a community.
 
SolarCity creating 1,500 new jobs in WNY

"BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) - SolarCity addressed a crowd of over 300 people at the Hyatt Regency Thursday. The event held by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership gave SolarCity the chance to tell Buffalo that their plant will be complete by the end of the year.

Their South Buffalo plant is 1 million-square feet and will produce 10,000 solar panels a day. Production will begin the second half of next year.

They’re initially looking to create 1,500 jobs but hope that supply demand will also help local business thrive.

Job positions will include engineer managers, operators, installers and more. Nearly 1,000 positions will require a two-year college degree or less."

http://www.wkbw.com/news/solarcity-creating-1500-new-jobs

Moving right along! :smile:
 
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Solar Power for Everyone - The New Yorker

Currently, Rive said, the company finishes a solar array somewhere in its eighteen-state service area every three minutes. “That sounds impressive, but it’s only two hundred thousand homes so far, out of forty million. My goal is to get it to one home every three seconds. Or maybe we could go faster than that—one every second,” he said, snapping his fingers. He pulled an iPhone out of his pocket, called up the calculator app, and punched in some numbers. “At that rate, we could do every house in . . . seventy-six years. No, that’s too long—I forgot a division. In a year and a half.”
 
Based on solar bond offerings this quarter, SolarCity potentially has raised over $421mln in Q2 alone. That's just solar bonds sold over the internet to individual investors, not including tax equity partnerships or the standard capital raising avenues. Pretty significant if true.

This has never happened before.

Don't hear this in the news, it's all flying under the radar right now. SolarCity - SEC Filings

Maybe this will highlighted at the conference call August.
 
Based on solar bond offerings this quarter, SolarCity potentially has raised over $421mln in Q2 alone. That's just solar bonds sold over the internet to individual investors, not including tax equity partnerships or the standard capital raising avenues. Pretty significant if true.

This has never happened before.

Don't hear this in the news, it's all flying under the radar right now. SolarCity - SEC Filings

Maybe this will highlighted at the conference call August.

Could you please point to specific filing and page number (or a search keyword)?

You used the word 'potentially', so what's your math behind 421mln?
 
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