Edison International, a public utility company based in California, announced that it had acquired SoCore Energy, a solar company based in Chicago. SoCore, which was founded in 2008, will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Edison International. Over the last five years, SoCore's partners have included large companies like Ikea and Walgreen Co., as well as several other industrial, commercial, and retail customers. 

Edison International's Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning, Bert Valdmen, said SoCore has "an impressive client base and pipeline of solar projects with large retailers and other businesses."

In an article for Forbes, Ucilia Wang discussed why Edison International made the move. Already this year Edison has taken strides into the distributed solar market. The utility took an equity stake in Clean Power Finance, a solar power financing company. The rise of installed rooftop solar could mean "dwindling revenues for power generation companies," Wang points out, "unless they get into the game themselves."

For a deeper dive into the relationship between utilities and distributed solar, read our recent article "PUCs: On the Front Line of the Brewing Net Metering Battle."