Sunrun Pivots to Home Energy Storage as Households Push Back Against AI Data Centers

Wealth disparity in the US is playing out in the energy sector in all caps. On the one hand, grassroots groups across the country are furiously pushing back against AI data centers as energy-sucking representatives of centralized wealth and power. On the other, the rising popularity of home energy storage systems indicates that individual households are eager to take advantage of new technologies that represent granular, democratized power. Just look at the numbers…

Sunrun: Power To The People

As one measure of the confluence between home energy storage and the democratization of energy systems, consider the case of the leading rooftop solar firm Sunrun. During Climate Week in New York City last month, I dropped in on an event featuring Sunrun CEO Mary Powell, interviewed by Fortune magazine Executive Editorial Director Diane Brady.

During the interview, Powell noted that Sunrun has made a sharp pivot. While holding on to its rooftop solar business, Sunrun now presents itself as a storage-forward venture. That makes sense in today’s environment, when households are scrambling to save money on their utility bills. Although rooftop solar is the sweet spot for home energy storage, batteries are source-agnostic. Anyone with a grid connection and a utility discount program can potentially cut costs with a home battery.

The pivot into energy storage is not the beginning of the story for Sunrun, though. The focus on individual customers is.

Powell referred to Sunrun polls showing that roughly 2/3 of its customers value clean tech for non-environmental reasons. The field is split at about 66% for the value of control and independence, with the planet following at 33%. “Our customers are across the political spectrum. They always have been,” Powell emphasized.

When the topic veered into the data center boom, Powell took another opportunity to underscore the power of individuals to shape the energy transition on a granular level, noting that that large infrastructure of any type has passed from the NIMBY level on up to BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone).

“Keeping the customer at the center of the conversation is what is lacking,” Powell said. She noted that Sunrun has adopted distributed computing systems into its portfolio, a move also supported by customer demand.

Energy Storage First

“It spurs more innovation when you put the customer first,” Powell further emphasized, and that’s where the company’s presentation as a storage-first venture comes in. Energy storage systems are the foundation of VPPs (virtual power plants), in which grid operators coordinate the consumption and release of electricity from a wide field of small-scale energy resources, including rooftop solar systems and home batteries. Participants in a VPP typically receive a rebate or discount on their utility bill for contributing their home resources to the system (see more VPP background here).

Note: Powell prefers the somewhat dry but more accurate term “distributed” energy systems. “Virtual” implies a sort of nebulous, ghost-in-the-machine presence, but hardware is the foundation of a distributed system. However, for the purposes of this article VPP will do.

Before the advent of connectivity and smart grid technology, a VPP-level of coordination was impossible. When a brownout or blackout loomed, utilities begged their customers to voluntarily help limit the damage by curtailing their consumption. Back in the day, these appeals were broadcast over TV, radio, and other mass media. Today, VPPs can kick into action seamlessly across thousands of households.

VPP Participation Skyrocketed In 2025

“What else can you buy that will send you a check?” Powell summarized, referring to home batteries. That explains why interest in VPPs has blown through the roof, with Sunrun being a case in point.

Sunrun posted a recap of its 2025 activity back in February, noting that customer participation in its distributed power plant programs increased by fivefold, from 20,000 in 2024 to more than 106,000 last year. At those numbers, Sunrun’s customers collectively became one of the largest sources of flexible, dispatchable energy in the US, meaning electricity that is always available regardless of the weather, season, or time of day, just like any conventional power plant.

Sunrun further noted that the combined capacity of its energy storage portfolio weighed in at 416 megawatts by the end of 2025, equal to or more than the capacity of many gas peaker plants.

Energy Storage And Energy Independence, Too

So much for February. At the end of the month, US President Donald Trump dispatched bombers to Iran, calling renewed attention to the country’s dependence on global energy markets. Coincidentally or not, barely two weeks later Sunrun pitched the energy independence angle. “Our deliberate and decisive pivot to provide Americans with energy independence is why Sunrun leads the residential energy storage sector,” Powell explained in a press statement dated March 12.

“Sunrun’s battery fleet provides important resiliency benefits to our customers and immense support to the power grid, serving as the backbone of our nation-leading distributed power plant,” she added.

Powell was not kidding. According to data compiled by the Solar Energy Industries Association, Sunrun accounted for almost 48% of the residential energy storage systems installed nationwide in 2025.

“Sunrun has now installed more than 237,000 storage and solar systems, representing approximately 4.0 gigawatt-hours of Networked Storage Capacity. That amount is equivalent to 44% of the 9 gigawatt-hours of residential energy storage installed across the U.S. since the industry’s inception, based on SEIA’s cumulative data,” the company summarized.

Sunrun also noted that it expects to have more than 10 gigawatt-hours of dispatchable energy under its belt within the next two years.

In addition to underscoring the energy independence angle, Sunrun also used the opportunity to draw attention to the energy security factor. Citing the popularity of home energy storage systems in storm-plagued Texas, Sunrun President and Chief Revenue Officer Paul Dickson drew attention to peace of mind, with the security of on-site backup power.

Of course, on-site gas or diesel generators are another option, but energy storage systems offer the additional benefits of noise-free, zero emission operation.

Don’t Forget The Rooftop Solar!

The energy security angle was also front and center in June, when Sunrun announced that more than 2/3 of its energy storage fleet, totaling more than 130,000 home batteries, were connected to grid programs that would enable the company to dispatch 650 megawatts of peak power during summer heat waves and other weather disruptions.

The system proved its worth during an heat heat event on the evening of September 9, when Sunrun and Tesla coordinated 580 megawatts of residential battery capacity to help relieve pressure on the grid, with Tesla contributing its Powerwall batteries and Sunrun adding batteries from other manufacturers.

In a recap of the event on September 21, Sunrun also noted that 70% of its rooftop solar customers added a home battery to their order, and there’s plenty more where that came from.

On September 29, the leading US solar manufacturer Heliene announced that Sunrun already has dibs on its newly introduced 108HC All-Black solar module. “Working with Sunrun allows us to invest in the domestic supply chain for rooftop solar,” explains Heliene CCO David Reasenberg, indicating that households seeking rooftop solar will not be left wanting.

The arrangement provides further support for the coming wave of domestic solar manufacturing. Despite last year’s sharp U-turn in federal energy policy, the demand for solar energy is not slowing down, nor is the demand for at least some measure of control over household utility bills.

Photo: The leading US rooftop solar firm Sunrun has made a sharp pivot into the energy storage field, enabling more households to participate in money-saving virtual power plants whether or not they have rooftop solar panels (cropped, courtesy of Sunrun).