Tesla And Sunrun Create New Rooftop Solar Juggarnaut

The downward slide of Tesla’s EV sales has grabbed much media attention in recent months, but EVs aren’t the only area in which Tesla has hit the skids. The company’s Tesla Solar rooftop solar branch has also been sputtering. Not to worry, Tesla fans. Tesla has just hooked up with one of its competitors, Sunrun, to help bring more solar panels to more rooftops in Texas…wait, what?

The Powerwall Connection

There is much to unpack here, starting with the fact that US President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have bent over backwards to throttle down the booming US solar industry. Nevertheless, the new hookup between Tesla and Sunrun demonstrates that US solar stakeholders are not backing down from a fight.

The new partnership comes under the umbrella of Tesla’s Tesla Electric branch, which launched in December of 2022 in order to take advantage of its grid-connected Powerwall residential energy storage business. In effect, Tesla acts as a sort of electricity accountant for Powerwall owners.

“You earn credits toward your bill when you contribute energy stored in your Powerwall to buffer the grid. As a member, you can also monitor the sources of your electricity supply 24/7 in the Tesla app and ensure that any electricity you use from the grid is offset with 100 percent Texas-generated renewable energy. On average, Tesla Electric members have the potential to earn over 50 percent more in credits on their electricity bills compared to similar plans,” Tesla explains.

More Rooftop Solar Power For Texas Rooftops

The missing link is that little thing about offsetting, and that’s where Sunrun comes in. The new hookup with Tesla Electricity enables Powerwall customers to take full advantage of Sunrun’s new “Flex” rooftop solar plan instead of relying on offsets from the grid for 100% renewable energy.

Sunrun introduced the Flex plan earlier this year. The program resolves a common sizing issue for homeowners seeking new rooftop solar systems. “Until now, home solar systems were designed to either match a household’s current energy usage or be oversized in anticipation of future needs — potentially resulting in either unmet needs as energy usage increases or generating solar energy that is not used immediately,” Sunrun explains.

Sunrun’s solution is a subscription-type solar installation service, in which homeowners pay a monthly baseline rate tagged to their pre-installation electricity demand. During months when they exceed the minimum, an additional “Flex Rate” kicks in, but they can also earn rollover credits by using less energy than the baseline. The solar array is sized up to allow for households that increase their electricity demand — for example, by purchasing a new EV — and Sunrun states that their annual bill will not exceed the value of the solar power they produce.

Tesla Electric Brushes Off Tesla Solar

Putting two and two together, Tesla Electric and Sunrun aim to supercharge the rooftop solar market in Texas by seamlessly hooking up Tesla’s Powerwall business with Sunrun’s rooftop solar power solution.

As for why Tesla Electric chose not to do business with its sister company Tesla Solar, that’s a good question. Their parent company, Tesla Inc., acquired the leading solar installer SolarCity in 2016 before eventually changing its name to Tesla Solar. The venture seemed promising at first, but in recent years it ran out of steam.

In contrast, Tesla’s Powerwall business continues to deliver the goods. That’s partly due to the strong performance of Sunrun in California and other states, where Sunrun provides Powerwall batteries as a standard offering for its rooftop solar customers.

Does the new hookup with Sunrun mean that Tesla Solar is kaput? Maybe. Check out Tesla’s newly published Q2 report and see if you can find any mention of its residential solar business in there. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread. Meanwhile, Sunrun is satisfied that the hookup with Tesla Electric will bring new customers to its door in Texas.

“With the Tesla Electric + Sunrun Flex plan, Tesla Electric offers a low, fixed electricity rate and the most competitive sellback rates for excess solar energy sent back to the grid,” Sunrun explains.

“Combined with abundant solar production from Sunrun Flex and seamless battery management, customers get maximum value, advanced outage protection, and greater peace of mind,” they add for good measure.

Sunrun also notes that the new partnership is aimed at sparing ratepayers from having to sort through the complex maze of electricity providers in the Texas grid. “Tesla Electric + Sunrun Flex is a complete home energy solution that eliminates confusion and improves the customer experience through dedicated enrollment assistance and aligning precise battery settings and solar production with a tailored retail electricity offering,” Sunrun asserts.

Want more details? Get the lowdown from Sunrun here.

The Many Benefits Of Rooftop Solar Plus Storage

The partisan clampdown on the US solar industry notwithstanding, Sunrun underscores the following benefits of its alliance with Tesla Electric:

    Cost Predictability: Customers enjoy predictable, affordable monthly payments, with the ability to “flex” their energy usage as life changes.

    Managed Settings: Tesla will coordinate electric rates, battery settings, and solar crediting to ensure the most value creation for customers.

    Seamless Experience: Coordinated customer service between Sunrun and Tesla to ensure a seamless experience that integrates the electric plan and Flex system.

    Rollover Credits: When customers use less energy than their baseline, they earn rollover credits to apply against future months when they exceed their baseline.

    Performance Guarantee: Every Sunrun Flex subscription includes 24/7 system monitoring, free maintenance and repairs, along with solar performance and battery health guarantees.

That’s all well and good. Though, it remains to be seen if Sunrun can keep its rooftop solar business humming along in Texas. The partisan political nitpicking against renewable energy is just one obstacle. The Tesla brand reputation spiral is another hurdle. Earlier this year, the online solar marketplace EnergySage reported a decline in Powerwall interest among householders and rooftop solar installers, but that does not appear to have affected Powerwall sales overall, at least not yet.

Image (cropped): The leading rooftop solar installer Sunrun has high hopes for a fresh burst of activity in Texas, under a new partnership deploying Tesla’s Powerwall batteries and the Tesla Electric subsidiary of Tesla (courtesy of Sunrun).