Sunrun has been the #1 rooftop solar power installed in the United States for several years now, since SolarCity got swallowed up by Tesla and dwindled to a relatively low level. But that doesn’t mean Sunrun hasn’t been facing its own challenges. Apparently, getting business through affiliate companies has not been going as well as before. The California-based company has therefore decided to shift more to a direct sales strategy. In the second quarter, Sunrun added 1,500 direct sales representatives. “Sunrun reported total revenue of $870 million for the second quarter of 2026, up 53% year-over-year, while outlining a strategic shift toward direct sales origination and grid service expansion. Net income attributable to common stockholders reached $115.2 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, driven by strong growth in energy systems and product sales,” PV Magazine reports. “Despite top-line revenue growth, the company adjusted its full-year 2026 financial guidance downward to reflect reduced origination from third-party affiliate channels, delayed onboarding ramps for new sales reps, and elevated capital costs.” Getting sales through affiliates is low cost — there aren’t employee salaries or wages to pay, there aren’t office or parking costs, there aren’t computer or transportation costs, and there aren’t insurance/benefits costs. However, it can be hard to convert potential customers pulled in through third-party companies, and if those companies drop off or start struggling, it can be hard to pull in potential buyers at all. With all of that in mind (and surely more), it appears that Sunrun currently sees a shift to direct sales as a better idea. “To capture higher unit margins and secure direct customer relationships, Sunrun expanded its direct sales force.” Also, tying into what I wrote above about affiliate companies potentially dropping off or starting to struggle, it turns out that one of Sunrun’s major affiliate partners, Freedom Forever, went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2026. Overall, Sunrun installed 19,793 subscriber systems in the second quarter of this year, which is an amazingly high number. However, the bad news is that this was down 31% from Q2 2025. Yikes. On the plus side, the company had a higher percentage of its solar power systems get energy storage add-ons than ever before — a whopping 74%. That’s up from 70% in Q2 2025. Sunrun has surpassed 266,000 total storage systems installed, accounting for 4.6 GWh of capacity. That includes the 332 MWh installed last quarter. Sunrun has achieved amazing things in its 19 years of business. (Incidentally, it launched the same year CleanTechnica did.) It has much more to do, though, and I do think the extra emphasis on direct sales will go far in helping the company to grow again.
