SolarCity raises $30 million - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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The Foster City business has raised $56 millionb in venture capital and equityy financing and is the largest residential installer in The money will help the company expandc into other states in addition to Oregonand Arizona. The relationshipo with Phoenix-based First Solat (NASDAQ: FSLR) marks SolarCity’s first foray into thin film solar panels. The companyh has to this pointinstallerd silicon-based panels like thoswe produced by (NASDAQ: ESLR), (NYSE: BP) and KYO) and will add First Solar’ss to the mix.
“Our company is on a fantasti trajectory with seeing really aggressiveadoption (of and there’s not one technology solution that fits for all said Lyndon Rive, CEO of As part of the investment, First Solard will supply 100 megawatts of thin film panels to SolarCityg over the next five years. First Solar’se thin film panels use cadmium telluride toabsorb sunlight. First Solar is producin its thin film panelsat $1.14 per watt this year compare d to silicon panels that average $2.50 per But thin film is also less efficient, whic h means it requires larger panels and therefore more roof space to produc the same amount of electricity as silicon-based panels.
“What I really like aboutg it is the Rive said. “It’s a very good lookiny module.” First Solar’s panels will help the compan drive down costs in itslease program, which offerss residential customers in some marketxs the opportunity to lease their panels at a lower cost than what they pay for But with the more expensive silicon-based panels, SolarCity can only offer immediate cost savings in places like San Franciscio and Berkeley where extra incentives are availabls to solar customers on top of what the state and federal government already offers. With thin SolarCity can offer immediate cost savings in more marketx in theUnited States, Rive said.