[A] national solar installer that plans to announce its entry into the Vermont marketplace next week accidentally jumped the gun on its website Thursday.
SolarCity, based in San Mateo, Calif., inadvertently posted on its website Thursday an announcement with copy reading that refers to Vermont as the first state in the union and says it aims to be Vermont’s “leading provider.”
According to a SolarCity spokesperson, the message was a placeholder that was accidentally posted and was quickly taken down. The company said it was not prepared to announce its Vermont plans until Monday, although it is licensed in the state and is advertising for help wanted.
The announcement was live on the Web long enough for one of SolarCity’s Vermont competitors to seize the moment.
The chief “storyteller” for SunCommon, Emily McManamy, captured the mistake and shared with Vermont media outlets, adding that SunCommon looks forward to the competition.
SunCommon, a Vermont certified benefit corporation, installs about half of all the residential solar in Vermont, according to a company news release highlighting the error.
In the early announcement, SolarCity had called Vermont the first state of the union, rather than the 14th, which Duane Peterson, co-founder of SunCommon, pointed out in the release.
“We know it can be difficult for a big corporation to enter a market far from its roots, but SolarCity’s splash announcement fails elementary school history by calling Vermont the first state in the Union,” Peterson said in the Aug. 6 statement. “Oops. While Vermont can be lauded for its innovative and progressive policies, it most certainly wasn’t the first in this regard, but rather the 14th state to join our United States.”
SolarCity has offices in 18 states, and was founded in San Francisco in 2006, according to its website. They have pronounced themselves the No. 1 solar provider in the nation, according to the website.
Peterson went on to say he was excited that SunCommon had helped build such a great market in Vermont that it attracted the nation’s largest solar company. He said that SunCommon welcomes SolarCity to Vermont to help that many more Vermont residents go solar.
Lee Keshishian, East Coast regional vice president of SolarCity, said that the announcement wasn’t found on the actual site and that the placeholder copy was not the official announcement text.
“It’s pretty funny, and I tip my cap to their Internet sleuthing skills for finding the temporary site under construction,” Keshishian said in a statement Thursday. “The site included placeholder text for testing, not the actual copy, but I do think that Vermont should be the first in the nation for solar! There’s nothing we’re able to announce yet but anyone in Vermont who is looking for the most affordable solar option should stay tuned for an exciting announcement coming up next week.”
According to McManamy, no sleuthing was required. She said a Google alert notified her of the announcement by SolarCity and that it appeared to be posted on the company’s main site.
For business reasons, Keshishian and other SolarCity officials said they are unable to announce anything further on their possible expansion into Vermont, though they have been making the media rounds in Burlington.
Rich Nickel, president and owner of Solar Tech, a smaller solar company in the Northeast Kingdom, said that while SolarCity doesn’t affect him too much because he doesn’t do a lot of business in Chittenden County, he feels that larger solar companies like Solar City operate on a different business model than companies like his.
“We pride ourselves on being skilled tradesmen whereas the larger companies such as SolarCity and SunCommon treat [solar] more and more as a commodity,” Nickel said. “I think eventually the consumers will see that difference and recognize that difference, or at least some will.”
There are currently 72 solar companies in Vermont that employ more than 1,000 people, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). In 2014, $76 million was invested on solar installations in Vermont, which was an increase of 63 percent from the previous year, and that is expected to grow again this year, according to the SEIA. There is enough solar energy installed in the state to power 8,100 homes.
