The future of the home solar market

Catalyst · 31 Jan 2022 · 46m

What this episode covers

Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun, discusses the company's evolution from a residential solar installer to a whole-home electrification partner, highlighting its partnership with Ford for F-150 Lightning bidirectional charging and its role in virtual power plants. She attributes the slow adoption of solar to high 'soft costs' driven by regulatory inertia and utility skepticism, arguing that streamlining permitting via tools like NREL’s SolarAPP is key to scaling. Powell emphasizes that while cost matters, emotional drivers like resilience and energy independence are increasingly powerful motivators for customers, especially in the wake of climate-related disasters.

Mentioned

Companies
Sunrun, Ford, SolarCity, Vivint Solar, Green Mountain Power, Energy Hub, Bloom Energy, NREL, Antenna Group, Nextracker, Other Lab, PG&E
Products
F-150 Lightning, Span, SolarAPP
Also
Saul Griffith, Lynn Jurich, Mary Powell, Shayle Khan

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