# The future of the home solar market

- Show: [Catalyst](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst)
- Published: 2022-01-31
- Length: 46m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market

## Summary

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.

## Chapters

- [0:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=2) Introduction: Mary Powell and Sunrun's Vision
- [8:04](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=484) Residential Solar Market Status and Soft Costs
- [13:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=796) Customer Acquisition Costs and Regulatory Barriers
- [18:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=1134) Drivers of Adoption: Resilience vs. Economics
- [21:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=1267) Residential Batteries and Virtual Power Plants
- [34:56](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=2096) Ford Partnership and Vehicle-to-Home Charging
- [40:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=2415) Heat Pumps and Whole-Home Electrification
- [43:31](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market#t=2611) Sunrun's Future as an Energy Provider

## Topics

- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Sunrun (company)
- Ford (company)
- F-150 Lightning (product)
- SolarCity (company)
- Vivint Solar (company)
- Green Mountain Power (company)
- Span (product)
- Energy Hub (company)
- Bloom Energy (company)
- NREL (company)
- SolarAPP (product)
- Antenna Group (company)
- Nextracker (company)
- Other Lab (company)
- Saul Griffith (other)
- Lynn Jurich (other)
- Mary Powell (other)
- Shayle Khan (other)
- PG&E (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Smart Electrical Panels: Avoiding $25K Upgrades to Enable Home Electrification with Arch Rao](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-10-16-smart-electrical-panels-avoiding-25k-upgrades-to-enable-home-electrification-wit) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Like a steam engine in your house](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2025-04-15-like-a-steam-engine-in-your-house) (The Amp Hour)
- [From Solar’s 90% Cost Crash to AI’s Energy Surge: The Economics Driving Climate Tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2025-09-16-from-solars-90-cost-crash-to-ais-energy-surge-the-economics-driving-climate-tech) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Renewable Energy Policy with Ari Gerstman](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2023-05-02-renewable-energy-policy-with-ari-gerstman) (The Amp Hour)
- [The Coming of the All-Electric Society w/ Jack Nehlig](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-manufacturing-executive/2022-02-15-the-coming-of-the-all-electric-society-w-jack-nehlig) (The Manufacturing Executive)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/catalyst/2022-01-31-the-future-of-the-home-solar-market. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Catalyst.