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SolarCity Community Solar Program Draws 500 Installs, 2 MW of Electricity

Posted on: Thursday, 20 September 2007, 09:00 CDT

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- SolarCity, California's leading provider of solar energy systems, today announced that the company's customers have adopted two megawatts of solar electricity in the past 10 months through SolarCity's unique Community Solar Programs. These purchases have come from more than 500 families in 19 cities and towns.

In less than a year, SolarCity has sold two megawatts of power through communities across California, including: Portola Valley, Woodside, Mountain View, San Jose, Santa Monica and Menlo Park. An additional seven programs are running in Rocklin/Loomis, Malibu, Beverlywood, Stanford, Berkeley/Rockridge, Los Altos/Los Altos Hills, and Clovis.

SolarCity's community solar program is a revolutionary approach to creating financial incentives for neighborhoods that go solar as a group. Through economies of scale and the efficiencies realized in centralizing equipment and employees, SolarCity has proven it can offer discounts of 20 to 30 percent below the market price of solar systems, and complete installations quickly, if communities meet program goals.

The Mountain View community solar program, originally targeting 175kW of solar power, catalyzed the adoption of more than 353kW between February and April 2007 with more than 100 participating households. Including systems purchased from SolarCity since April 30, Mountain View residents have bought 500kW of solar systems. This has increased the city's installed base of solar PV by 150%.

Once installed, SolarCity's proprietary SolarGuard monitoring system will allow residents to track their individual and community energy production, and compare to other participating cities and towns, while allowing SolarCity a means to assure long-term system performance. Already, nearly all the Mountain View systems sold during the community program are now online. In Portola Valley, where SolarCity began the community solar program and sold 78 systems, most are operational as well.

"Community programs are an effective way to enable a community to spread the adoption of solar and make a significant impact," said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. "SolarCity will continue this successful model in other neighborhoods with even more ambitious goals. Every individual in every one of these communities can take pride in the difference their contribution is making as part of something big."

The two megawatts of total solar power purchased by community program members is equal to planting 128 acres of trees and will save the group substantially on energy bills over the 30-year lives of the systems.

About SolarCity

Headquartered in Foster City, CA, SolarCity matches advanced solar power technology with a suite of installation services. The company's comprehensive offering removes the technical, regulatory, and financing barriers to solar power, helping customers make smart renewable energy choices that save money. Boasting the industry's most experienced team in solar systems design and installation and a proven track record of bringing new technologies to market, SolarCity is uniquely positioned to make solar power a practical choice for home owners and businesses.

SolarCity

CONTACT: Jessica Appelgren or Tim Gnatek, both of Blue Practice, Inc.,+1-415-381-1100, jappelgren@bluepractice.com, tim@bluepractice.com

Web site: http://www.solarcity.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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