Vivint Solar, Inc. is an American solar energy company headquartered in Lehi, Utah. It is a residential solar provider that designs, installs, and maintains photovoltaic systems. Vivint Solar operates in 23 U.S. states. It has installed over 188,000 solar panel systems totaling over 1290 MegaWatts of rooftop solar as of March 2020. It uses fleet vehicles carrying the traditional Vivint orange coloration. Founded in 2011 as an offshoot of Vivint, Vivint Solar went public in 2014. Vivint Solar is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company is considered to be a green home technology company and is the fastest growing solar energy company in the U.S. which uses the power purchase agreement model. In 2016, Vivint Solar introduced a new CEO, David Bywater. In 2017, the company partnered with Mercedes-Benz Energy on home batteries; Vivint Smart Home to track energy consumption to save electricity; and ChargePoint, which provides electric vehicle charging stations for the home.
History
In October 2011, home automation company Vivint, Inc. started and incorporated a new, solar division of the company, Vivint Solar. In November 2012, the Blackstone Group acquired a controlling interest in Vivint, Vivint Solar, and 2GIG Technologies for in excess of $2 billion. After the Blackstone acquisition, the solar division evolved and became Vivint Solar, LLC., a separate, but related company. According to GTM Research, Vivint Solar was the number two residential solar installer in the United States in 2013, and maintaining its No. 2 position as of the end of 2016. In October 2014, Vivint Solar opened for public trading on the New YorkStock Exchange. A class-action lawsuit was filed against Vivint in December 2014, with allegations that the company misled investors in their Initial Public Offering by omitting data that showed the company's PPA model was falling out of favor with consumers. Vivint contended that the lawsuit lacked legal merit. In February 2015, Vivint Solar broke ground on a new corporate campus in Lehi, Utah near Thanksgiving Point, and began operating from there in May 2016. This five-story steel-construction high-rise is ultra-modern, and provides cafeteria service for its employees like its parent Vivint's corporate headquarters. In July 2015, SunEdison announced plans to buy Vivint Solar for $2.2 billion USD. In March 2016, Vivint Solar announced that the SunEdison deal had been terminated, and that the company was suing SunEdison for a "willful breach" of the planned merger. SunEdison is in bankruptcy as of January 2017, and Vivint Solar is one of many creditors. A second proposed class action lawsuit was filed in May 2016, arguing that Vivint misled investors about the SunEdison buyout offer. Due to other financing arrangements after the failed SunEdison negotiations, Vivint Solar was predicted in mid-2016 to enter 2017 stronger than before, but as of September 2017 their stock remains below $4 per share in comparison to a high of about $15 in 2015. Analysis from early 2017 found that while Vivint Solar had greater access to capital, actual installation of home solar panels fell substantially with a drop of 21% from late 2015 to late 2016. In 2017, the company expanded to 20 states. Vivint Solar has installed 100,000 solar energy systems as of February 2017. In July 2020, Sunrun acquired Vivint Solar for $3.2 billion.
Technology
Vivint Solar's customers can finance a system with a loan, purchase or lease a system, or purchase energy based on a long-term contract—a PPA. With a loan or cash sale, customers own the panels after paying for the installation outright or securing financing. In the PPA structure, customers pay a fee per kilowatt hour based on the amount of electricity the solar energy system actually produces. In the lease structure, the customer's monthly payment is fixed based on a calculation that takes into account expected solar energy generation. The lease includes a production guarantee under which Vivint Solar agrees to make a payment to the customer if the leased system does not meet the guaranteed production level. Most of Vivint Solar's growth as of 2013 had come from door-to-door sales. During 2016 the PPA model was losing favor with consumers who increasingly preferred to buy solar power systems outright rather than lease them or engage in PPAs. This change has contributed to Vivint's financial troubles. During Q3 of the 2016 calendar year, Vivint Solar started offering loans and cash sales, and recorded 84% year-over-year growth in revenue that quarter.
Products
In 2017, Vivint Solar expanded its products beyond solar panels to energy storage, EV charging and smart energy management. It announced partnerships with Mercedes-Benz Energy to offer home storage batteries, Vivint Smart Home to integrate energy consumption tracker and ChargePoint to charge electric vehicle at home. As Mercedes-Benz was not able to fulfill some of Vivint Solar's requirements, LG Batteries became the new partner. The company's Fully Integrated Solar allows customers to purchase a Vivint Solar rooftop solar system, a ChargePoint Home electric vehicle charger, an LG storage home battery and Vivint Smart Home intelligent energy management.
Controversy
In 2018, The Attorney General of New Mexico filed lawsuit against Vivint Solar, Inc. saying it was engaging in unfair and unconscionable business practices including clouding titles to consumers’ homes, fraud and racketeering. Later in 2018, Vivint counter-sued the New Mexico Attorney General who was then under investigation for a pay-to-play scandal involving the original lawsuit against Vivint.
