Dive Brief:

• NRG Energy bought Roof Diagnostics Solar (RDS), the eighth-largest solar installer in the U.S., as part of its drive to be a leader in the residential sector. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
• Roof Diagnostics has offices in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut and plans expanding to California. In New Jersey, it was the leader in the third quarter of 2013. Although NRG already has an installer network, it hopes to keep both operations going.
• "We met RDS and liked what we saw," said Denise Wilson, executive vice president at NRG. "They're very customer-focused and all about making it simple. They are very aligned with us to take it to a national platform."
• ​Recently, solar company Sunrun bought REC's residential solar unit, making Sunrun, like NRG, a vertically integrated solar installer and financier with a direct sales force like SolarCity and Vivint. The purchase also brought Sunrun a new installer business, in addition to its in-house installation operation.

Dive Insight:

The ink wasn't dry on NRG CEO David Crane's letter to shareholders this week when the company announced this acquisition. "We expect to be soon-to-market with a robust platform offering rooftop solar to homes and businesses and other forms of sustainable and clean generation that will offer our customers the ability to dramatically reduce their dependence on system power from the centralized grid," Crane wrote in his vision statement for NRG, the utility industry and the country. The RDS purchase could quickly become part of that robust platform.