The Long Run Research DepartmentSourcedUpdated // 07 SEPT 2026

Research

Notes, memos and thesis updates. Every figure is cited. Good news gets recorded. Bad news gets recorded too.

The battery is becoming the product

Solar creates electricity. Storage makes electricity controllable.

Why storage changes solar from production-only to controllable energy — and why attachment rate may matter more than installation volume.

No single household looks like infrastructure. Aggregation changes the equation.

Sunrun's California distributed power plant combines 80,000+ homes and 110,000+ batteries into up to 425 MW of peak dispatchable capacity.

The interesting claim is not that solar powers AI.

DOE projects data centre electricity demand rising sharply while grid interconnection takes a median of over five years. That gap is the opportunity.

You will see the number everywhere. Here is what it actually describes.

The 16.8 GW figure is a non-binding framework spanning Sunrun, Renew Home and Tesla. It is not a Sunrun-controlled power plant.

The network story is exciting. The financial reality is messy.

Subscriber additions fell 31% YoY, solar installations 23% and storage 15%. A thesis that ignores this isn't research.