This week on Watt It Takes: How Sunrun CEO Lynn Jurich convinced homeowners and banks to invest millions into third-party rooftop solar during the Great Recession.
“Everybody said, 'It won’t work.' We took it as a challenge,” says Jurich. “And so we just went for it.”
Sunrun was a pioneer in residential solar services. Unlike some of its fallen brethren pushing the national model, Sunrun grew at a much more sustainable clip. Today, the company is at the top of its game. Sunrun installed 100 megawatts of residential solar last quarter. It will likely install 5,000 residential batteries. It’s now partnering with utilities on using those batteries and rooftop systems as a virtual power plant.
In this edition of Watt It Takes, Powerhouse CEO Emily Kirsch talks with Jurich about how she went from begging homeowners to go solar at county fairs to signing up hundreds of thousands of customers.
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Listen to our other episodes of Watt It Takes:
- Nancy Pfund’s Pro Tips for Getting Started in Cleantech
- SunPower Founder Dick Swanson’s Guide to Launching a Cleantech Startup
- Lessons From the Fall of Sungevity
- Dan Shugar, the King Midas of Solar
- A History of Greentech Media With Scott Clavenna
- Sungage's Sara Ross on Starting a Solar Loan Company
- Jigar Shah on the Origin Story of SunEdison
- The Origin Story of Mosaic With Billy Parish
- How Roboticist Leila Madrone Built the Air-Based Solar Tracker Firm Sunfolding
- The Death-Defying Reinvention of Advanced Microgrid Solutions
- Assessing the Promise of Electric Buses With Proterra CEO Ryan Popple
- How Sunnova’s John Berger Convinced Oil & Gas Investors to Believe in Solar
- Bertrand Piccard: ‘If You Can Fly Around the World in a Solar Airplane, You Can Do Everything’
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