A co-founder of the company involved in one of the most ambitious projects of the "Buffalo Billion" spoke Wednesday morning at the University at Buffalo.
Peter Rive co-founded SolarCity and serves as its Chief Technology Officer. He was not made available to media before or after his lecture. Speaking inside Davis Hall on UB's North Campus, Rive acknowledged the challenges of growing solar energy's market presence but he also spoke of some of its advantages over other forms of energy.
"Solar is a textbook financing product," he said. "Why? Because it has high capital expenses and then 30 years of recurring capital but with no cost. As opposed to traditional generators, it's a little more of a complicated financing problem because you have loads of medium capital costs but then you have volatile fuel stocks."
SolarCity's solar panel manufacturing center, a massive complex being constructed in Buffalo's Riverbend section, is a roughly $750 million investment by New York State. The company's stock has fallen sharply since the start of the year but supporters of the project say it's a worthwhile risk.
"I see what SolarCity is doing is building the business model and working towards viability," said UB Provost Charles Zukoski. "How they become viable is one of the things Peter talked to us about today. They have to drive down their costs to get away from the subsidies and it sounds like they're working very hard on that."
