Sunrun's CalReady power plant expands significantly, enhancing California's energy grid reliability and reducing costs for consumers.
Quiver AI Summary
Sunrun has announced a significant expansion of its CalReady power plant, which now features over 56,000 customers with solar-plus-battery systems, collectively capable of supplying critical energy to California's grid amidst rising summer temperatures. This initiative aims to alleviate stress on the energy grid during peak times and is expected to deliver an impressive average of 250 megawatts per event, enough to power around 280,000 homes. The CalReady program highlights Sunrun's role as a vital energy provider and allows customers to earn compensation for sharing their stored solar energy, thus turning their participation into a potential source of passive income. The expansion underscores the company's commitment to enhancing energy resilience while lowering costs for all ratepayers, contrasting with rising utility rates in California.
Potential Positives
- Sunrun's CalReady power plant has significantly increased its power output, now expected to deliver an average of 250 megawatts per two-hour event, showcasing the company’s ability to provide essential energy solutions during critical times.
- The expansion highlights Sunrun’s leadership in the clean energy sector and its role in enhancing grid reliability, contributing to lower energy costs for California ratepayers.
- By compensating customers up to $150 per battery for participating in CalReady, Sunrun is creating a new revenue stream for households, potentially providing nearly $10 million collectively in earnings for customers this year.
- Sunrun's decentralized model for energy storage reduces the risk of single points of failure, enhancing resilience and flexibility for California's evolving energy landscape.
Potential Negatives
- The press release does not address any potential challenges or limitations in the expansion of the CalReady power plant, which may raise concerns about scalability or operational viability during peak demand periods.
- While Sunrun highlights the benefits of its compensation program for customers, it lacks specific details on how many customers are eligible or participating, which could create skepticism about the program's accessibility and effectiveness.
- There is no mention of regulatory risks or potential policy changes that could impact the viability of the CalReady program or Sunrun's operations in California's evolving energy market.
FAQ
What is Sunrun's CalReady power plant?
CalReady is a virtual power plant that aggregates solar-plus-battery systems from Sunrun customers to support California's energy grid during peak demand.
How much energy can CalReady provide?
This year, CalReady is expected to deliver an average of 250 megawatts per two-hour event, enough to power about 280,000 homes.
How are Sunrun customers compensated for participating in CalReady?
Customers enrolled in CalReady can earn up to $150 per battery for sharing their stored energy with the grid, collectively expected to receive nearly $10 million this year.
What are the benefits of Sunrun’s CalReady program?
CalReady helps lower energy costs for all ratepayers, reduces pollution, and stabilizes the grid during emergency events, offering financial rewards to participating customers.
How does CalReady enhance energy resilience for California?
CalReady's decentralized nature eliminates single points of failure and provides flexibility to meet California's evolving energy needs more reliably.
Disclaimer: This is an AI-generated summary of a press release distributed by GlobeNewswire. The model used to summarize this release may make mistakes. See the full release here.
$RUN Insider Trading Activity
$RUN insiders have traded $RUN stock on the open market 31 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 1 have been purchases and 30 have been sales.
Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $RUN stock by insiders over the last 6 months:
- LYNN MICHELLE JURICH has made 0 purchases and 7 sales selling 209,166 shares for an estimated $1,968,422.
- EDWARD HARRIS FENSTER purchased 150,000 shares for an estimated $1,020,600
- MARY POWELL (Chief Executive Officer) has made 0 purchases and 7 sales selling 48,403 shares for an estimated $363,662.
- DANNY ABAJIAN (Chief Financial Officer) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 28,467 shares for an estimated $214,030.
- PAUL S. DICKSON (Pres. & Chief Revenue Officer) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 27,427 shares for an estimated $206,230.
- JEANNA STEELE (Chief Legal & People Officer) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 17,178 shares for an estimated $132,122.
- MARIA BARAK (Chief Accounting Officer) sold 2,729 shares for an estimated $18,379
To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.
$RUN Hedge Fund Activity
We have seen 183 institutional investors add shares of $RUN stock to their portfolio, and 237 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.
Here are some of the largest recent moves:
- ALYESKA INVESTMENT GROUP, L.P. added 10,294,947 shares (+593.9%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $95,228,259
- GREENVALE CAPITAL LLP added 4,516,793 shares (+50.3%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $41,780,335
- UBS GROUP AG added 4,460,352 shares (+498.3%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $41,258,256
- SYLEBRA CAPITAL LLC added 3,699,405 shares (+124.0%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $34,219,496
- FMR LLC removed 3,365,813 shares (-98.1%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $31,133,770
- ROBECO SCHWEIZ AG removed 3,117,100 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $28,833,175
- NORGES BANK added 2,831,764 shares (+542.6%) to their portfolio in Q4 2024, for an estimated $26,193,817
To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.
$RUN Analyst Ratings
Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $RUN in the last several months. We have seen 3 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.
Here are some recent analyst ratings:
- UBS issued a "Buy" rating on 01/10/2025
- Exane BNP Paribas issued a "Outperform" rating on 01/07/2025
- Cowen & Co. issued a "Buy" rating on 12/19/2024
To track analyst ratings and price targets for $RUN, check out Quiver Quantitative's $RUN forecast page.
$RUN Price Targets
Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $RUN recently. We have seen 3 analysts offer price targets for $RUN in the last 6 months, with a median target of $11.0.
Here are some recent targets:
- Jordan Levy from Truist Financial set a target price of $6.0 on 04/16/2025
- An analyst from UBS set a target price of $15.0 on 03/04/2025
- Ameet Thakkar from BMO Capital set a target price of $11.0 on 11/11/2024
Full Release
SAN FRANCISCO, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN), the nation's leading provider of clean energy as a subscription service, announced today that its CalReady power plant has more than quadrupled in size as the summer heat begins to stress the state’s energy grid. More than 56,000 Sunrun customers’ solar-plus-battery systems—totaling approximately 75,000 batteries—will provide critical energy to California's grid during times of high energy prices, heat waves, and other grid emergency events while simultaneously lowering energy costs for all ratepayers.
“Sunrun is leading the transformation of the energy grid with a customer-led revolution to a more reliable, energy independent way to power their homes while at the same time being a solution to help other Californians who rely solely on the grid,” said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell. “The expansion of CalReady highlights our increasing role as a critical energy provider and underscores the system-wide value we’re delivering to ratepayers, utilities, and the grid.”
Sunrun’s CalReady power plant is the largest home storage aggregation in the California Energy Commission's Demand Side Grid Support program . CalReady is available to support the state’s grid each day from 4 to 9 p.m. from May through October. This is the second year that Sunrun has operated CalReady as the nation’s largest virtual power plant.
In 2024, Sunrun’s CalReady power plant enrolled over 16,000 households and delivered an average of 48 megawatts of stored solar energy to the grid during summer heat waves, reaching an instantaneous peak of 54 megawatts. This year, CalReady’s power output has more than quadrupled and is expected to deliver an average of 250 megawatts per two-hour event, with the ability to reach an instantaneous peak of up to 375 megawatts—enough to power approximately 280,000 homes, equivalent to all of Ventura County, California.
“Sunrun has created one of the largest batteries in the country, rivaling large-scale utility projects but without taking up additional land or requiring costly new infrastructure,” Powell added. “CalReady’s decentralized nature eliminates any potential single point of failure while offering greater resilience and flexibility for the state’s evolving energy needs.”
Sunrun customers enrolled in CalReady are compensated up to $150 per battery for sharing their stored solar energy, and Sunrun is paid for dispatching the batteries. Last year, CalReady delivered more than $1.5 million in value to Sunrun customers and helped lower costs for all ratepayers, reduced pollution, and stabilized the grid for all electric customers in the state. This year, Sunrun customers are expected to collectively receive nearly $10 million for participating in the virtual power plant.
“Being rewarded for sharing energy with the grid from our two batteries makes CalReady a no-brainer,” said San Jose resident and Sunrun customer Tom Weldon. “This will be our third year participating in Sunrun’s virtual power plants. We appreciate the relationships Sunrun develops with customers and utilities to create these programs that have mutual benefits. It’s a win all around.”
Sunrun’s direct compensation to customers is a stark contrast to the double-digit utility rate hikes in California , which are growing faster than inflation and significantly faster than the average electricity rates across the country.
“CalReady is unlocking meaningful opportunities for families to generate passive income from their existing storage and solar systems,” said Sunrun President and Chief Revenue Officer Paul Dickson. “Now in its second year, our rapidly growing power plant is proving that grid operators can depend on distributed energy resources to deliver reliable, cost-effective services at scale when critical emergency power is most needed.”
The scale of CalReady is a direct result of Sunrun’s storage-first strategy. At the end of 2024, more than 60% of new Sunrun customers chose to add battery storage to their solar system. In California, the storage attachment rate was even higher at nearly 90%.
Sunrun actively monitors and dispatches participating batteries, making it a hassle-free experience for customers enrolled in CalReady. For customers with outage protection, batteries will still retain, at minimum, a backup reserve of 20% so that they can continue to power their homes in the event of a local power outage.
About Sunrun
Sunrun Inc. (Nasdaq: RUN) revolutionized the solar industry in 2007 by removing financial barriers and democratizing access to locally-generated, renewable energy. Today, Sunrun is the nation’s leading provider of clean energy as a subscription service, offering residential solar and storage with no upfront costs. Sunrun’s innovative products and solutions can connect homes to the cleanest energy on earth, providing them with energy security, predictability, and peace of mind. Sunrun also manages energy services that benefit communities, utilities, and the electric grid while enhancing customer value. Discover more at
www.sunrun.com
Media Contact
Wyatt Semanek
Director, Corporate Communications
[email protected]
Investor & Analyst Contact
Patrick Jobin
SVP, Deputy CFO & Investor Relations Officer
[email protected]