Profile: Real Goods Solar, Inc. (RSOL.O)

Real Goods Solar, Inc. (Real Goods), incorporated on January 29, 2008, is a residential and small commercial solar energy integrator. The Company offers turnkey services to its solar energy system customers, including design, procurement, permitting, build-out, grid connection, financing referrals and warranty activities. Real Goods installs residential and small commercial systems that are generally between 1 kilowatt and 250-kilowatts output, with the average residential installation being approximately four-kilowatts output. Its solar energy systems use solar photovoltaic (PV) modules from manufacturers, such as Sharp, SunPower and Kyocera Solar. On January 1, 2008, Real Goods’ 88.4%-owned subsidiary acquired certain of the assets of Carlson Solar. On August 1, 2008, it acquired 100% interest in Independent Energy Systems, Inc. On October 1, 2008, the Company acquired 100% ownership of Regrid Power, Inc. through a merger into one of its subsidiaries.

The Company’s majority shareholder, Gaiam, Inc., operates in the sustainable and renewable energy lifestyle market and has a base of approximately eight million direct customers. The Company’s Solar Living Center in Hopland features interactive demonstrations for renewable energy technologies. Real Goods designs and builds its solar energy systems to meet each customer’s individual needs and circumstances. It assesses a customer’s annual power requirements and average daily consumption rates in different seasons of the year to size the solar energy system and engineer its wiring. The Company does not custom manufacture solar PV modules or inverters. It purchase theses manufactured components for incorporation into its constructed solar energy systems.

Real Goods sources solar PV modules from three primary manufacturers: Sharp, SunPower and Kyocera Solar. These modules range in conversion efficiency from 12% to 19%. The Company offers a 10-year parts and labor warranty in California, and a five-year parts and labor warranty in Colorado, which may also involve claims of property damage arising from the installation. It generally handles manufacturer warranty claims for solar PV modules as part of its customer service offerings and is reimbursed by the manufacturers for its labor and materials. The Company’s residential solar energy systems are generally 10 kilowatts or smaller in size, and its commercial solar energy systems are generally no larger than 250 kilowatts in size. Its typical residential customer is connected to the utility grid. The Company’s commercial customers include wineries, schools, apartment buildings, churches and retail facilities.

The Company competes with REC Solar, Akeena Solar, Solar City and Namaste Solar Electric.