SolarCity

History

SolarCity was founded in 2006 by South African brothers Peter and Lyndon Rive, based on a suggestion for a solar company concept by their cousin, Elon Musk, who was the chairman and helped start the company. By 2009, solar panels it had installed were capable of generating 440 megawatts (MW) of power. In 2011, the company launched their expansion to the East Coast with the acquisition of the solar division of Clean Currents and groSolar. Following the acquisitions, SolarCity expanded operations on the East Coast and opened in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

In 2013, SolarCity was the leading residential solar installer in the U.S. Solar Power World magazine listed it as the number two overall solar installation company in the U.S. In 2013, SolarCity purchased Paramount Solar from Paramount Equity for $120 million. By 2015, its installed panels were capable of generating 870 MW of solar power and accounted for approximately 28% of non-utility solar installations in the U.S. that year. In October 2014, SolarCity announced it would be offering up to $200 million in solar bonds in its first registered public offering of bonds in the United States. In March 2016, SpaceX bought $90 million of SolarCity stock.

In net metering in Nevada case in late 2015, SolarCity withdrew from solar sales and installation in Nevada, following the decision by the state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to raise the monthly service charge for rooftop solar customers and progressively reduce the return on solar energy sold back into the grid under the net metering rule. Under the new rules, the monthly service charge imposed on Nevada Power's rooftop solar-generating customers rose from $12.75 to $17.90 and was scheduled to rise to $38.51 by January 1, 2020; simultaneously, the rates given to rooftop solar generating customers for their surplus solar energy were also clawed back and were to continue to decline over the ensuing four years. As a result, SolarCity eliminated more than 550 jobs in Nevada.

Workforce reduction

During 2015, the number of employees had grown by 69%; at the end of 2015, SolarCity had 15,273 employees. To preserve cash, SolarCity eliminated 20% of its total workforce in 2016, ending 2016 with 12,243 employees. This was the first time in the company's history that it cut its workforce.