NRG Energy, Inc., Princeton, N.J., has been establishing a reputation as one of the most progressive and aggressive utility companies in North America about embracing and shaping the future of distributed power generation technologies such as rooftop solar. The company this week announced a move that will give it an online platform for finding and courting customers who may be interested in producing their own power. NRG said it has acquired Pure Energies Group, Inc., a Toronto-based company that specializes in web-based customer acquisition in residential solar.
In a release, NRG said Pure Energies completes the residential solar capabilities the utility has been working to assemble and “perfectly complements NRG’s acquisition earlier this year of Roof Diagnostics Solar, a leader in home solar direct sales and installation, along with NRG’s own Residential Solar Solutions, which has focused on the financing and business operations associated with solar leasing.” All of these capabilities and operations, combined as NRG Home Solar, give NRG a “one-stop shop for prospective solar customers, offering the optimal rooftop solar system customized to their homes and needs.”
Pure Energies has a proprietary customer acquisition process that will help NRG Home Solar reduce customer acquisition costs while providing a simplified solar adoption process. Pure Energies’ online capabilities also are expected, ultimately, to provide a valuable sales channel for NRG’s Goal Zero line of portable solar and energy storage products and NRG’s retail businesses (NRG, Reliant and Green Mountain).
“Home solar is the gateway for most American consumers to join the growing movement toward a clean energy future, and the combination of Pure Energies’ rapid growing online footprint with our existing residential solar platform will enhance our ability to provide customers, wherever they are, the freedom to make their own clean energy and capitalize on the energy generating potential of their own home,” said David Crane, president and CEO of NRG Energy. “While residential solar is being increasingly embraced by homeowners of all ages across the United States, buying over the internet is the acquisition channel of choice in particular for the younger generation of Americans for whom commitment to a sustainable lifestyle is a fundamental part of their DNA.”
