Solar energy is all well and good. But if you can’t easily get solar cells from the factory to a residential rooftop, what is it worth?
The dilemma is a little like the one facing electric car startups, such as Tesla. If a company doesn’t have a national network of dealers, how big can its car sales become?
Sungevity will announced three down-state installers on April 22
Sungevity hopes to solve the solar challenge. The company has been installing solar cells on homes in the San Francisco Bay Area using an Internet-based ordering technique that lets homeowners choose from five competing systems. The process eliminates the site visit by relying on satellite maps – and potentially saves buyers money.
Co-founder Danny Kennedy says the startup does two to four homes a week.
Now it plans to take its business model on the road and expand to Southern California. It will be an interesting experiment to watch.
Sungevity plans to announce a partnership with three down-state solar installers on April 22. The expansion will enable it to cover 65 percent of the state.
The company could be serving 5 percent of the entire California market by 2010 or 2011, says Kennedy – a big step.
While sales turn down over the winter, partly due to the economic downturn, business has recently shown some life. “We’ve picked up again,” he said.
It will be interesting to see the company’s reception down south.
