Dive Brief:
- Vivint Solar, owned by the Blackstone Group, has set its initial share price for its IPO at $16. The vertically integrated installer and financier will offer 20.6 million shares for a market cap of more than $1.5 billion.
- Vivint is the second largest installer in the country, active in seven states and the leading installer in New York and Massachusetts. The company installed 15% of Q2 2014's 247 megawatts of U.S. residential PV, up from 8% in Q1 2014. It is growing faster than SolarCity, and will double its 2013 installation total this year.
- Vivint Solar, a unit of home alarm/automation system giant Vivint, has raised nine committed bank investment funds totaling $443 million, which will allow $1.1 billion in installations. It also has three letters of intent totalling $250 million, which will add 111 megawatts more through power-purchase agreements and leases. Vivint does not offer loans.
Dive Insight:
Vivint Solar’s average system is 5.9 kilowatts and the company has installed 129.7 megawatts of solar at more than 21,900 homes. Like SolarCity, it is betting on the vertically integrated solar company model, providing both financing and installation for customers.
Its primary module suppliers are Trina Solar, Yingli Solar, and Canadian Solar, three of the top five U.S residential solar suppliers. Its only inverter supplier is Enphase Energy.
Vivint’s national installer competitors are active in twice as many states. Its primary sales method is door-to-door.
SolarCity went public in December 2012 at $8 per share, raised $92 million, and now has a market cap of $5.67 billion. It installed 36% of the Q2 2014 U.S. residential total, up from 28% in Q1 2014. Its 30,000 new customers allowed it to install at 1.2 megawatts per day.
Solar still provides less than 2% of U.S. electricity, but is nearing 16 gigawatts of installed capacity nationwide.
