Vivint Solar

Vivint Solar, Inc.

Type	Public Company
Traded as	NYSE: VSLR
Founded	2011
Headquarters	Lehi, Utah
Number of locations	37
Key people	Greg Butterfield, CEO Todd Pedersen, Board Member Alex Dunn, Board Member
Number of employees	2,200+ (2014)
Website	www.vivintsolar.com

Vivint Solar, Inc. is an American solar energy company. Vivint Solar went public in 2014 with an IPO starting at $16/share.^[1] Vivint Solar is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It was launched in 2011 by its parent company Vivint, Inc.^[2] as a solar electricity provider that designs, installs, and maintains the residential photovoltaic system.

Vivint Solar operates in seven states (Arizona, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maryland, New York and California), and the District of Columbia,^[3] with expansive marketing programs in those markets.^[4][5] According to GTM Research, Vivint Solar was the number two residential solar installer in the United States in 2013.^[6] The company installs solar panels at no cost to the homeowner, via a power purchase agreement (PPA).^[7]

Vivint Solar owns, installs, and maintains solar panels on customers’ homes in exchange for customers agreeing to purchase the solar energy their panels produce.^[8] Customers do not pay for installation, but pay for energy that the panels produce,^[9] for the life of the contracts, at rates that are initially substantially lower than their previous electric utility charges.^[10][11] Vivint Solar’s customers purchase energy or lease solar energy systems based on one of two types of long-term contracts - a power purchase agreement (PPA) or a lease. In the PPA structure, customers pay a fee per kilowatt hour based on the amount of electricity the solar energy system actually produces. In the lease structure, the customer’s monthly payment is fixed based on a calculation that takes into account expected solar energy generation. The lease includes a production guarantee under which Vivint Solar agrees to make a payment to the customer if the leased system does not meet the guaranteed production level. ^[12]

Vivint Solar is similar to other alternative solar companies like SolarCity, SunRun, and Sungevity. Its innovation in the field is the use of microinverters for each separate solar panel, allowing maximum production when some of the panels are in the shade,^[13][14] as well as a quick installation^[15] using Zep Solar technology.

Vivint Solar is considered a green home technology company^[16] and is the fastest growing solar energy company in the U.S. using the power purchase agreement (PPA) model.^[17][18] It uses fleet vehicles carrying the traditional Vivint orange coloration.^[19]

Vivint Solar is a separate company from Vivint, Inc. and has its own management, offices, and staff. Its CEO is Greg Butterfield,^[20] who joined the company in fall of 2013. Vivint Solar undertook groundbreaking in January 2015 on its new Corporate Headquarters, located just north of Provo near Thanksgiving Point, in the heart of the new Silicon Valley of the West.

Vivint Solar is rated A+^[21] by the Better Business Bureau (BBB). In November 2012, the Blackstone Group acquired a controlling interest in Vivint, Vivint Solar, and 2GIG Technologies for in excess of $2 billion.^[22]

Approach

Most of Vivint Solar's growth has come from door-to-door sales.^[23]

Corporate history

In October 2011, home automation company Vivint, Inc. started and incorporated a new, solar division of the company, Vivint Solar.^[24] After Vivint, Inc.’s Blackstone acquisition in 2012, the solar division evolved and became Vivint Solar, LLC., a separate, but related company.^[25] In October 2014, Vivint Solar opened for public trading on the New York Stock Exchange.^[26]

References