SolarCity

SolarCity Corporation, located in Fremont, California, was a publicly listed corporation that sold and installed solar energy production systems, as well as other associated goods and services, to residential, commercial, and industrial clients. Peter and Lyndon Rive, cousins of Tesla, Inc. CEO Elon Musk, launched the firm on July 4, 2006. Tesla paid around $2.6 billion for SolarCity in 2016 and restructured its solar division as Tesla Energy.

SolarCity concentrated extensively on door-to-door sales of leased systems, in which customers paid no upfront fees but committed to purchase the electricity generated by the panels from the firm for 20 years. The business model became the most popular in the United States, propelling SolarCity to the position of largest home solar installation, but it also caused the firm to accrue more than $1.5 billion in debt by the time it was acquired in 2016.

The two firms had a tight relationship prior to Tesla’s takeover. SolarCity provided free charging to Tesla Roadster customers at its charging stations, became one of the first installers of the Tesla Powerwall home energy storage battery, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk served as SolarCity’s chairman.