Vivint Solar was an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems, primarily for residential customers. The company was established in 2011 as an offshoot of home automation and security company

Vivint Vivint Smart Home, Inc. is a Provo, Utah-based manufacturer of smart home and home security products. Its product lines include cameras, locks, safety sensors, thermostats, and lighting, along with associated monitoring and installation services. ...

and was headquartered in

Lehi, Utah Lehi ( ) is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. The population was 75,907 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, up from 47,407 in 2010, and it is the center of population of Utah. The rapid growth in Lehi is due, in part, to t ...

. The company primarily used a power purchase agreement (PPA) business model where Vivint Solar installed and maintained a solar system on a customer's home, then sold power to the customer at an agreed upon rate for a set term. In 2020, the company was purchased by Sunrun, another solar company primarily focused on the PPA business model for $3.2 billion. At the time of the merger, Vivint Solar had installed a total of 1.29

gigawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

of power for over 188,000 customers in 23 U.S. states (

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

History

Vivint Solar was founded in October 2011 as the solar division of the home automation and security company

. The company marketed solar as part of its Smart Home product, with customers able to track energy consumption to save electricity. In November 2012, the

Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. It was founded in 1985 as a mergers and acquisitions firm by Peter Peterson and Stephen Schwarzman, who had previously worked together at Lehman ...

acquired a controlling interest in Vivint, Vivint Solar, and 2GIG Technologies for in excess of $2 billion. After the Blackstone acquisition, the solar division became a stand alone company and grew to become the second largest residential solar installer in the United States in 2013, mostly through door-to-door sales. In October 2014, Vivint Solar went public on the New York Stock Exchange. A class-action lawsuit was filed against Vivint in December 2014, with allegations that the company misled investors in their

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

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.Karl-Erik Stromst
Lawsuits against Vivint Solar 'lack merit', company say
, RechargeNews.com 12 December 2014, accessed 03 Aug 2017 In July 2015,

SunEdison SunEdison, Inc. (formerly MEMC Electronic Materials) is a renewable energy company headquartered in the U.S. In addition to developing, building, owning, and operating solar power plants and wind energy plants, it also manufactures high-purity ...

announced plans to buy Vivint Solar for US$2.2 billion, but the deal fell through by March 2016 with Vivint Solar suing for a "willful breach" of the planned merger. Shortly after, SunEdison entered bankruptcy. Vivint Solar struggled after the failed merger attempt with investors noting that while the company had greater access to capital, installation of home solar panels fell substantially with a drop of 21% from late 2015 to late 2016. Also contributing to Vivint's financial troubles was the fact that starting in 2016, the PPA model was losing favor with consumers who increasingly preferred to buy solar power systems outright. Starting in late 2016, Vivint Solar started offering loans and cash sales, leading to 84% year-over-year growth in revenue. Also in 2016, Vivint Solar introduced a new CEO, David Bywater. The company entered the home energy storage market in 2017, announcing a partnership with

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Energy to offer home storage batteries. The partnership was announced less than a year later, with LG Chem becoming the company's battery provider. In 2018, The Attorney General of New Mexico filed a 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. In July 2020, Sunrun announced that it would acquire Vivint Solar for $3.2 billion. By early October 2020, the acquisition was completed following the approval by regulators and stockholders of both companies, creating a valuation of approximately $22 billion.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Companies, Renewable Energy Energy companies established in 2011 Renewable resource companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in Utah American companies established in 2011 Companies based in Lehi, Utah Solar energy companies of the United States 2014 initial public offerings 2020 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange