by NICHOLA GROOM, Reuters, December 2, 2013
In a first on Monday, an online marketplace will allow U.S. homeowners to weigh options for going solar as easily as they can compare prices for airline tickets.
Geostellar, a startup backed by power producer NRG Energy Inc, is seeking to become the Expedia or Orbitz of the solar industry — a one-stop shop where consumers can not only compare the benefits of leasing solar panels versus buying them outright, but ultimately sign up to install a system.
Solar players including NRG, No. 1 U.S. installer SolarCity Corp, Boston-based solar loan provider Admirals Bank, manufacturer and financier Conergy, East Coast installer Roof Diagnostics and Connecticut’s Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority will feature their products on the site, www.geostellar.com.
Geostellar hopes its platform will allow installers and financiers to lower the cost of acquiring new customers — a major goal in the fiercely competitive rooftop solar industry. Solar companies are laser focused on slashing costs so that they can deliver on their promise to save customers money on power bills by going solar.
Geostellar will make money by claiming a portion of a system’s total installed price – between 10 and 20 percent, Chief Executive David Levine said.
Geostellar, which was founded in 2010, got its start by selling data to solar companies that showed the solar energy potential of individual rooftops. Its early customers included solar financing companies SunRun, Sungevity and others, according to Levine.