SolarCity Purchases Energy Efficiency Firm Building Solutions

Residential solar panel installer SolarCity announced on Wednesday the acquisition of home energy efficiency consultancy Building Solutions.

The merger will allow SolarCity to bundle energy efficiency services with its solar panel installation business.

SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive sees the two services as naturally complementary.

“When we design a solar system we in most cases design to address 60 to 80 percent of energy needs — we’re always left with a hang-over of 40 to 20 percent,” said Rive. “That remaining percentage could easily be addressed with energy efficiency.”

SolarCity has been working with Building Solutions for years, and many other solar panel installers recommend energy efficiency audits as part of getting a solar system. The less energy a house uses, the fewer expensive solar panels needed. 

SolarCity and Building Solutions will also integrate their software services. Building Solutions offers a detailed home efficiency report to customers based on a proprietary software package (see a sample here), while SolarCity has its Solar Calculator and Power Guide remote energy usage platform.

Brand and scale

Rive hopes to bring to the Building Solutions part of the company the two things he has brought to SolarCity: brand recognition and scale.

“There’s no energy efficiency company today that address the residential market that has scale…no one focused on bringing economies of scale and structuring the value proposition to the homeower,” said Rive.

The deal was an asset purchase, Rive said they were not disclosing figures. Building Solution’s 11 full time employees will join SolarCity’s 620. Building Solutions also has a valuable network of subcontractors, Rive said.

SolarCity operates in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Texas, while Building Solutions operates solely out of the Bay Area.

The energy efficiency services sector is expected to boom in the next decade, as efficiency is seen as the “low hanging fruit” in reducing carbon emissions.

Last week, the US House voted to pass the “cash for caulkers” bill, which would extend $5.7 billion in rebates to homeowners that invest in energy efficiency improvements.

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