Clear Skies Solar, Inc.(fka CSKH)

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the "Dell of solar cells"

Lowe's Teams Up with Sungevity to Accelerate Solar Sales

By Danny Bradbury, BusinessGreen
Published May 17, 2011

Residential solar firm Sungevity has signed home improvement company Lowe's as a distributor, significantly expanding its reach into the fast expanding market for domestic solar panels.

The company, which currently uses web-based tools to provide fast quotes for solar installation, said the new partnership will allow it to deliver in-store consultation and sales for Lowe's customers.

Lowes will provide customers with in-store access to iQuote, the Sungevity system that uses satellite images and aerial photography to estimate the cost of a residential solar installation.

Displays branded with Sungevity's material will begin appearing in the chain's stores this summer, before rolling out across eight states.

Sungevity launched three years ago in California, setting itself up as the "Dell of solar cells." It provided an automated sales process that used a geometric algorithm to calculate the angle of the roof and the available surface area for installation. This enables it to give a next-day quote to potential customers, who access its sales tools online.

The company is attempting to penetrate the mass-market for solar installations, and the firm said the Lowe's deal will help educate the market and make its products more available to a wider base of people.

Sungevity offers solar leasing products, in what it calls its "solar as a service" program. It monitors and maintains its systems, fixing them if it detects that they are operating suboptimally.

The company raised $15 million in series C funding last December, bringing its total to more than $25 million.

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/05/17/lowes-teams-sungevity-accelerate-solar-sales#ixzz1Md7Piu9D

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The best way to save money with solar panels is still to pay for them yourself (which Sungevity also offers). But the high cost of a solar system has scared many people away from this option. Leasing a system, on the other hand, accords the buyer all the green bragging rights of buying one — with no money down.

Such leasing programs have proven a powerful incentive to green-wannabes. According to CEO Danny Kennedy, Sungevity installed as many systems in March and April as in all of last year — and 90 percent of those sales were leases. (proving 2011 so far has been good for solar business)

If the guaranteed savings and maintenance sounds too good to be true, it’s not. But some people may find that the savings involved are not worth the hassle.

Sungevity is unique among solar installers in that it has tried to put as much of the process of buying solar panels online as possible, thereby reducing transaction costs. “Probably 10 percent of the end price is pencil pushing, filling out forms,” said Kennedy. “We’ve done as much as we can, legally, to digitize that.”

After determining the type of system appropriate, Sungevity use a network of local contractors to actually install it.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/05/sungevity-spying-on-celebrities-with-solar-technology/