SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California, that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers.

SolarCity heavily focused on door-to-door sales of leased systems, where customers would pay no upfront costs, but agreed to purchase the power generated by those panels from the company for 20 years.

[7] Following the acquisitions, SolarCity expanded operations on the East Coast and opened in Connecticut,[8] Pennsylvania,[9] South Carolina,[10] Florida,[11] Vermont,[12] and New Hampshire.

"[33] In April 2022, a Delaware court ruled in favor of defendant Elon Musk in a shareholder lawsuit over Tesla's $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity.

“[The] Tesla Board meaningfully vetted the Acquisition, and Elon did not stand in its way,” read the opinion by Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights.

[46][47] In May 2008, SolarCity completed what was, at the time, the largest commercial solar installation in San Jose, California, at the North Campus of eBay.

[48][49] SolarCity introduced additional financing options for businesses in 2009[50] and built multiple solar projects for other large organizations, including Walmart,[51][52] Intel,[53] and the U.S.

SolarStrong was SolarCity's five-year plan to build more than $1 billion in solar photovoltaic projects for privatized military housing communities across the United States.

[68][67] In 2016, SolarCity ran a pilot project to test a grid backup resource by installing GridLogic software and 10-kilowatt-hour Tesla Powerwall battery packs in 500 California homes.

[72] In 2014, SolarCity announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility (now known as the Gigafactory 2) in Buffalo, New York, in coordination with the SUNY Polytechnic Institute, after acquiring Silevo, a maker of high-efficiency solar modules.

[82] In February 2016, CEO Lyndon Rive announced that due to delays incurred in the supply of machinery for the plant, production would begin in summer 2017.

One of the main features of the program was the solar panel factory to be leased by SolarCity in the High-Tech Manufacturing Innovation Hub at RiverBend.

On April 29, 2016, then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (of the Southern District of New York) began an investigation into state construction projects and contracts, including the Buffalo Billion.

[92] Three executives who worked for LPCiminelli Development faced a 14-count indictment for wire fraud and bribery and alleged bid rigging of the SolarCity RiverBend construction contract.

[82] On March 30, 2017, The Oregonian said that Campaign for Accountability, a D.C.-based consumer advocacy group, and other groups have asked Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to investigate solar panel sales practices[93] that "are designed to trick homeowners into buying or leasing solar panels" in violation of Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act.

It outlined several complaints filed against the solar giant by Oregonians who claimed they'd been misled about costs, tax credits and energy savings by the company.

"[94] The Oregon Solar Energy Industry Association, however, said that it examined the complaints and "found the numbers to be relatively low – lower than those being cited by the Campaign for Accountability.

"[94] Investigators determined that SolarCity attempted to "cheat the system" by inflating the cost of 14 commercial solar projects by more than 100% to qualify for higher state tax credits.

[95] The company is involved in a case concerning Martin Shain, the lead energy consultant in a solar power project at two Oregon universities.

The state's case revolves around two documents, which include an invoice from Solar Foundations Systems dated February 25, 2011, and a December 2011 letter signed by Ryan Davies, the former head of RedCo, a Utah-based company, which was the second developer on the project.

The litigation is not adversarial – being named in the foreclosure proceeding provides us with advance notice that we need to reassign a contract, and many are immediately resolved with the relevant bank.

"[101] The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating Sunrun and SolarCity in May 2017 and were looking into whether they adequately disclosed canceled contracts.

Roisman wrote, "Over the past few months, my office has observed a pattern of procedural issues with net-metering applications being pursued by your company."

On August 21, 2019, Walmart filed a lawsuit against Tesla, seeking reimbursement for millions of dollars in damages and release from contracts, claiming that fires on the roofs of seven of those stores since 2012 were caused by SolarCity's "negligent installation and maintenance.

A joint statement provided by Tesla stated the companies said they were "pleased to have resolved the issues raised by Walmart" concerning the installations, and looked forward to "a safe re-energization of our sustainable energy systems."

Walmart had accused Tesla of "widespread, systematic negligence" and ignoring prudent industry practices by relying on untrained and unsupervised personnel to install and maintain its panels, and prioritizing speed and profit over safety.

[40] At around the start of the lawsuit, it was revealed that Tesla had initiated a secretive program, called Project Titan, to "replace solar-panel parts that could cause fires" as early as the previous summer.

[109] From a resource perspective, Project Titan involved "ordering supplies including ladders and tool belts and sent crews out around the United States" to approximately 50 cities as well as replacements for the specific parts believed to be causing fires: Amphenol H4 connectors and SolarEdge optimizers.

According to the US Department of Energy's appropriation request for that year, "The program also encourages Systems Integration by developing radically new approaches to reduce the cost and improve reliability and functionality of power electronics and supporting industry development through test and evaluation standards, and tools for understanding grid integration issues.

Using government and taxpayer funds, SolarCity helped 2,500 Hawaii residential customers connect their solar power systems to the grid by the end of December 2015.