Sunrun Photo voltaic Assessment: Is the Largest Firm Your Greatest Deal? – CNET

Amongst residential photo voltaic installers, one firm has captured extra of the market than another. Sunrun’s 12.5% market share was almost triple another firm in 2022. The residential photo voltaic business has skilled enormous shifts over the previous few years: the Inflation Discount Act, which prolonged and elevated the photo voltaic tax credit score; the weakening of internet metering in California, the largest residential market; and excessive rates of interest, which elevated the price of a photo voltaic mortgage. 

With all that uncertainty, some within the business are pointing to the soundness a big, nationwide installer can present. Even the largest photo voltaic corporations can disappear (Sunrun purchased out the then-second-largest photo voltaic firm, Vivint, in 2020), however some argue that bigger corporations stand a greater probability of being there to service your panels and honor warranties a decade down the street. Sunrun has a footprint in 18 states, Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.

Most of Sunrun’s enterprise is in photo voltaic leases. Meaning you may lease panels from it for a month-to-month price, though it’s going to promote you photo voltaic panels too. Whereas there are dozens of photo voltaic panel suppliers and installers across the nation (specialists advocate getting a number of quotes), it is value wanting on the main gamers. Sunrun compares favorably with that group.

Sunrun’s warranties are high of the road in case you’re going the route of the energy buy settlement or lease and it installs tier-one panels, an organization spokesperson stated. It additionally gives sturdy photo voltaic battery choices.

Warranties for individuals who purchase a rooftop system from Sunrun aren’t as sturdy as these supplied to lease and energy buy settlement prospects. That, and the truth that it does not seem to supply a worth match assure, retains its rating a bit decrease.

CNET scores photo voltaic corporations on what we expect makes a distinction to you. It is best to at all times take an organization’s rating from any reviewer with a grain of salt as a result of the perfect photo voltaic firm for you is the one that matches your wants, not the one which scores the very best in even probably the most conscientious rankings. 

That goes double for the above rating for Sunrun. As a result of Sunrun did not return our most up-to-date interview requests (after we reworked how we consider corporations in April 2023), we weren’t at all times capable of rating them on their precise choices — which for many photo voltaic corporations aren’t well-defined on-line. As a substitute, for most of the parts of Sunrun’s rating, we had to make use of the common rating for the remainder of the businesses we have reviewed.

What do I get from Sunrun?

Sunrun’s bread and butter is solar-as-service. This implies the overwhelming majority of people that use Sunrun (80 to 90%, based on a 2021 presentation to buyers) purchase energy from or lease the Sunrun-owned photo voltaic panels on their roofs. 

What photo voltaic tools does Sunrun set up?

If you are going to purchase panels from Sunrun, you are more likely to get high quality tools. In 2022, a Sunrun spokesperson confirmed the corporate works “with their different module manufacturing companions to provide tier one panels.” “Tier one” is technically a measure of whether or not or not initiatives utilizing these panels are protected funding bets, however they’re sometimes high quality panels that come from established corporations. They need to have high-efficiency rankings and powerful warranties.

Sunrun gives Tesla Powerwall for whole-home backup and an LG Chem battery, which the corporate says can again up “simply the necessities,” or 4 circuits (a circuit is every part related to a breaker in your breaker field or electrical panel). Sunrun additionally gives battery storage to its solar-as-service prospects by means of its program known as Brightbox. Each battery choices include a 10-year producer’s guarantee. Sunrun has additionally invested in Lunar Power, a battery startup, and can set up Lunar batteries.

Sunrun additionally has a partnership with Ford to put in the tools wanted for the brand new F-150 Lightning to cost out of your photo voltaic panels and act as a backup battery on your residence. Bidirectional charging, as it’s identified, continues to be in its early days, however has potential as a extra versatile supply of backup energy. An F-150 Lightning has a 98-kilowatt-hour battery, whereas most particular person residence backup batteries are between 10 and 20-kilowatt hours (although they’ll typically be stacked into extra highly effective configurations.

Powerwall holds 12.2-kilowatt hours of usable power, whereas the LG Chem batteries provide 9.2 to 16kWh of usable power, relying on the mannequin. (LG Power Options has recalled a few of its batteries for doable hearth threat.)

It is not clear which inverters Sunrun will use now that their most popular possibility, LG once more, is now not accessible.

What warranties does Sunrun provide?

Sunrun gives “bumper-to-bumper” protection, upkeep and monitoring for its solar-as-service prospects. If you buy photo voltaic panels from them, you are left to depend on producers’ warranties. These warranties are sometimes 25 years, though some are beginning to push to 30 years. Sunrun additionally gives a 10-year workmanship guarantee in opposition to harm to your roof or set up issues.

Does Sunrun provide monitoring providers?

Sunrun has an app by means of which you’ll monitor your system’s manufacturing. Since I am not a Sunrun buyer, I wasn’t capable of check it out. The mySunrun app will get 2.2 stars and a couple of.6 stars on Apple’s App Retailer and Google Play respectively. You may sometimes have the chance to observe your photo voltaic manufacturing by means of an app from the producer of the photo voltaic inverter in your system.

Does Sunrun use subcontractors?

As you may count on from the most important photo voltaic corporations, Sunrun makes use of subcontractors alongside its in-house set up groups.

How a lot do Sunrun photo voltaic panels value?

Most photo voltaic corporations do not provide you with any pricing data upfront, and it is onerous to know precisely how correct the estimates that do exist are with out getting an precise quote. That is a part of the explanation CNET does not think about worth in its scoring and you must at all times get a number of quotes from installers in your space. With the ability to examine quotes is your protection in opposition to agreeing to a worth that is means too excessive.

Nationwide averages for residential photo voltaic prices vary. Wooden Mackenzie reported a worth of $3.28 per watt for the start of 2023. The Lawrence Berkeley Nationwide Laboratory’s Monitoring the Solar report discovered a mean value of greater than 4 {dollars} per watt. The map beneath attracts information from Discover Power. States in grey are missing information.