Leading residential solar installer Sunrun exited Q1/2023 having installed around 240 MW solar capacity, representing 12% higher installation on annual basis, exceeding high end of its guidance with $589.8 million in revenues, while reporting net loss of -$240.4 million.
Solar energy capacity for subscribers was 187.8 MW. In all, networked solar energy capacity for the company reached 5.907 GW, while that for subscribers it was 4.952 GW at the end of the reporting quarter. It says the company is on track to add over 1 GW in 2023 on rooftops by targeting single and multi-family homes.
"Demand for clean affordable energy from Sunrun continued to accelerate in the first quarter, with over 30% growth in sales. The strength of Sunrun's energy subscription offering and leading market presence allowed us to gain significant market share, and these trends are set to accelerate in the quarters ahead," said Sunrun CEO Mary Powell.
She added that the company was able to install rooftop solar systems 'even with challenging weather conditions, including atmospheric rivers in many parts of California' with a 'higher-than-expected net subscriber value of $12,000, exceeding the guidance of $10,000.
Revenues for the quarter went up by 19% annually led by solar energy systems and product sales of $343.4 million that increased by 20%, followed by 18% improvement in $246.5 million revenue contribution from customer agreements and incentives that contributed 18% more with $246.5 million.
The company added 32,413 new customers including 25,154 subscribers taking its total customers to 829,709 including 692,395 subscribers.
"Our recent sales activities, and the forthcoming benefits from the tax credit adders in the Inflation Reduction Act, which are only available to the solar subscription model, indicate the mix of Customer Additions is likely to continue to shift more toward Subscribers in the quarters ahead," added CFO Danny Abajian.
Guidance
Sunrun expects its solar energy capacity to grow within a range of 10% to 15% in full year 2023. It sees more 'upside opportunity than downside risk to achieving growth in this range and anticipates market share gains in 2023'.
It expects to install within 270 MW to 290 MW in Q2/2023. Net subscriber value is forecast to increase sequentially in the next quarter, but no specific numbers were shared.
Management also sees supply chain pressures easing and substantial cost reductions across key hardware components which may lead to further unit cost reductions. However, the benefits may be obscured by an increasing mix of storage that carries higher net margins but will increase hardware and install costs.