Incline company takes step toward goal of micro-utility

The recent acquisition of a California solar company is one step in a strategy by Sierra Nevada Partners LLC to develop micro-utilities that generate electricity from rooftops of homes and businesses.

Sierra Nevada Partners, an Incline Village-based investment group, purchased HelioPower Inc., an integrator of solar systems headquartered at Murrieta, Calif. HelioPower also operates in the Sacramento area.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

Ian Rogoff, general partner of Sierra Nevada Partners, said last week the company looks for further acquisitions in the solar industry and focuses its search on Reno, Las Vegas and states nearby.

Among the company's goals, he said, is creation of a micro-utility, a collection of solar photovoltaic arrays mounted on houses and commercial buildings.

Sierra Nevada Partners would provide financing for the building owners to purchase the solar panels and would agree to purchase the power they produce.

In turn, property owners would be given the opportunity to purchase power from Sierra Nevada Partners at a rate lower than that charged by their local utility company.

When a house or commercial building produces more power than it consumes, Sierra Nevada Partners would sell the excess into the power grid.

The investment group is negotiating with banks and other financial institutions to provide the financial underpinnings for the micro-utility program.

Sierra Nevada Partners been looking to purchase a solar company, but its management wasn't comfortable with its ability to pick the right technology in a fast-moving field.

Instead, the company focused on systems integrators, who pull together appropriate technology from several suppliers to meet a customer's needs.

Sierra Nevada talked with about 150 solar integration firms before acquiring HelioPower, Rogoff said.

The company previously had purchased companies involved in wind-power and energy efficiency.

"We would like to have a portfolio of companies in the space around energy efficiency," Rogoff said.

"Renewable energy, and solar power in particular, are central to how consumers and businesses address the current climate of high energy costs and environmental concerns."

Sierra Nevada Partners is using Capital Advice LLC, a company headquartered at Scottsdale, Ariz., as a mergers-and-acquisitions advisor during its search for portfolio companies.