SolarCity named green power supplier of the year

The 2010 Green Power Leadership Awards were held in Portland, Ore., last night, and the U.S. Dept of Energy named SolarCity® a Green Power Supplier of the Year in the Non-Utility Category.

“The U.S. Department of Energy has played a pivotal role in encouraging the national growth of clean power use,” said SolarCity’s CEO Lyndon Rive. “We applaud their efforts, and we’re humbled by this award, but as a company and industry, we’re only at the beginning of what we must accomplish to break our addiction to fossil fuels.”

Sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) and held in conjunction with Renewable Energy Markets 2010, the 2010 Green Power Leadership Awards recognize businesses and organizations that are working to make green power affordable and accessible to the public.

SolarCity, which has operations in California, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and Texas, is working on or has completed 9,000 residential, business, and governmental solar projects to date. The U.S. Dept. of Energy recognized SolarCity in large part due to their solar leasing program that promotes the use of solar power by providing affordable options for homeowners, schools, government agencies, and businesses. A leader in solar and energy efficiency financing, design, installation, monitoring and related services, SolarCity pioneered the SolarLease program that allows customers to save more money by going green than paying for traditional electricity.

“In addition to our groundbreaking lease program, we’ve also pioneered community programs and other innovations that are helping to promote solar power,” said Jonathan Bass. “We have found that if we can make it easy for people to go green, and make it so they don’t have to make a financial sacrifice, people will choose clean power.”