Skyline Innovations Enters California Solar Market with Industry-Leading $30M Project Finance Fund

WASHINGTON and LOS ANGELES, May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Skyline Innovations, one of the nation's fastest growing commercial solar heating companies, and WGL Holdings, Inc., today announced the completion of solar water heating systems for three multifamily buildings in southern California, owned by Williams Holdings, Inc. Skyline provided the solar water heating systems at no upfront cost, and Williams Holdings will receive solar hot water at a 25 percent fixed discount to their utility rate for water heating. The Golden State projects mark Skyline's 31st project for multifamily housing and the expanded availability of its innovative financing solution to businesses and multifamily buildings in California.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120515/PH07192 )

Skyline Innovations' industry leading $30 million solar heating project financing arrangement with WGL Holdings, Inc. will be used to address the growing market opportunity for solar hot water and customer demand for savings. Based in Washington, D.C., Skyline recently expanded its operations to serve the California market with the opening of an office in Los Angeles.

"We are excited to expand availability of our offering to the West Coast," said Zach Axelrod, CEO of Skyline Innovations. "It serves as yet another proof point to the viability of providing customers a fixed, discounted utility rate for commercial-scale solar thermal."

Unlike traditional water heating systems that use traditional fuels like electricity to heat water, Skyline Innovations uses solar collectors. The use of this clean, free energy source allows Skyline to provide a fixed discount off of its customers' current and future utility rate. This is a key differentiator from other solar financing offerings that lock customers into a price per unit of energy provided or escalating monthly fee. By structuring its customer agreements in this way, and unlike conventional solar financing, Skyline eliminates all financial risk to the customer from utility rate fluctuation. In addition to all of these benefits, Skyline provides its systems at no upfront cost.

"Skyline Innovations' business model and technology platform make it a leader in the solar heating and cooling space," explains Rick Moore, Division Head of Strategy and Business Development at Washington Gas, a subsidiary of WGL Holdings, Inc. "Skyline's continued expansion aligns with our strategic position and vision of supporting clean and efficient energy solutions in high growth segments of the energy market."

Williams Holdings' systems will be eligible for the California Solar Initiative's Thermal Program. This program offers rebates of up to $500,000 for affordable multifamily housing units that install solar thermal units to displace natural gas water heating. The systems were installed by California Solar Thermal and SunUp Energy of San Diego.

"This agreement makes sense for our residents, our buildings and the environment," said Kameron Segal, founder and CEO of Williams Holdings. "Skyline's strong business model gave us the confidence to green our properties, in turn reducing our operating expenses."

SKYLINE INNOVATIONS, INC.

Skyline Innovations guarantees customers' savings by providing a fixed discount to their utility rates for water heating. This complete customer care finances, installs, monitors and maintains clean, reliable solar water heating systems at no upfront cost. Multifamily building owners in California can visit www.skylineinnovations.com to learn more about how to generate savings from solar and request a proposal.

WGL HOLDINGS, INC.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., WGL Holdings, Inc. has four operating segments: (i) the regulated utility segment which primarily consists of Washington Gas, a natural gas utility that serves over one million customers throughout metropolitan Washington, D.C., and the surrounding region; (ii) the retail-energy marketing segment which consists of Washington Gas Energy Services, Inc., a third-party marketer that competitively sells natural gas and electricity; (iii) the commercial energy systems segment which consists of Washington Gas Energy Systems, Inc., a provider of design-build energy efficiency solutions to government and commercial clients and commercial solar projects and (iv) the wholesale energy solutions segment which consists of Capitol Energy Ventures Corp., an asset optimization business that acquires, manages and optimizes natural gas storage and transportation assets. Additional information about WGL Holdings, Inc. is available on our website, www.wglholdings.com.

SOURCE Skyline Innovations