SolarCity dominates residential solar
By William Pentland
SolarCity, a rooftop-solar company based in Sunnyvale, California, installed more than one-third of all residential solar projects in the United States during the first half of 2015, according to GTM Research.
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op US residential solar installers. Click on image to enlarge. Credit: GTM Research |
Vivint Solar, a rooftop solar company owned by SunEdison and based in Woburn, Massachusetts, ranked second in the list of top residential solar developers, installing 12 percent. Sunrun, NRG Home Solar and Sungevity rounded out the top five on the GTM Research's U.S. PV Leaderboard released this week.
Although the same five residential solar companies have remained in the top five slots for the past three quarters, their respective rankings have changed. In particular, Oakland, California-based Sungevity, which was the third leading residential solar developer for most of 2014, slipped below Sunrun and NRG Home Solar to the fifth spot on the list.
According to GTM Research, Sungevity's fall in the rankings underscores the value of vertical integration in the residential solar space.
"Thus far, these market share trends indicate that vertical integration is the best way to scale quickly in residential solar," said Nicole Litvak, a senior solar analyst at GTM Research.
Last year, Sungevity began outsourcing its financing operation so it could focus on growing sales. By contrast, Sunrun and NRG Home Solar acquired installers in 2014. More recently, in July, SunEdison, the world's largest renewable energy development company, acquired Vivint Solar and its 523 megawatts (MW) portfolio of rooftop solar projects for $2.2 billion.
Based on the industry's current growth trajectory, GTM Research is projecting that more than two gigawatts of solar capacity will be installed in the US residential sector this year.
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