Sunrun and NRG Energy Form Strategic Partnership to Scale Distributed Energy and Strengthen Texas Power Grid
Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN), the largest provider of residential solar, battery storage, and home-based power plants in the United States, has announced a multi-year strategic partnership with NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG), a Fortune 500 energy company supplying electricity, natural gas, and smart home solutions to millions of customers across North America. The collaboration marks a significant step toward accelerating the deployment of distributed energy resources in Texas, with a strong focus on residential battery storage and grid-connected solar systems that can deliver flexible, dispatchable capacity during periods of peak electricity demand.
The partnership comes at a critical time for Texas’s energy system. Rapid population growth, expanding industrial activity, and increasingly extreme weather events are placing mounting pressure on the state’s power grid. By combining Sunrun’s extensive portfolio of residential solar-plus-storage systems with NRG’s retail electricity expertise and customer reach, the two companies aim to unlock a new, scalable source of grid support while empowering homeowners to actively participate in the energy market.
At the heart of the collaboration is a shared ambition to build a large-scale virtual power plant (VPP) network. NRG has set a long-term goal of creating a 1-gigawatt virtual power plant by 2035, and the Sunrun partnership is expected to play a pivotal role in achieving that objective.
“This partnership is a major step in achieving our goal of creating a 1 GW virtual power plant by 2035,” said Brad Bentley, Executive Vice President and President of NRG Consumer. “Texas is growing fast, and our electricity supply must keep pace. By teaming up with Sunrun, we’re unlocking a new source of dispatchable, flexible energy while giving customers the opportunity to unlock value from their homes and contribute to a more resilient grid.”
Through the partnership, Texas homeowners will be offered a comprehensive home energy solution that integrates Sunrun’s rooftop solar and battery storage systems with optimized electricity rate plans and intelligent battery management. These offerings will be delivered through Reliant, NRG Energy’s retail electricity brand in Texas. Both new and existing Sunrun customers will be eligible to enroll with Reliant, allowing their home battery capacity to be aggregated and made available to support the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.
As more households participate, the cumulative energy capacity of these residential systems will grow, creating a distributed power resource capable of responding to real-time grid conditions. During periods of high demand—such as summer heat waves or unexpected supply shortfalls—the aggregated batteries can discharge stored energy to help stabilize the grid, reduce strain on centralized power plants, and lower the risk of outages.
Sunrun CEO Mary Powell emphasized that the partnership highlights the maturity and scale of distributed energy as a core component of modern energy infrastructure.
“This partnership demonstrates the scale and strength of Sunrun’s storage and solar distributed power plant assets,” Powell said. “We are delivering critical energy infrastructure that gives Texas families affordable, resilient power and builds a reliable, flexible power plant for the grid.”
Beyond grid reliability, the collaboration is designed to deliver tangible financial benefits to participating customers. Homeowners who enroll in the program will be compensated by Sunrun for allowing a portion of their stored solar energy to be shared with the grid when needed. Sunrun, in turn, will be paid for aggregating and dispatching the distributed energy capacity, creating a business model that aligns customer incentives with grid needs.
This structure reflects a broader shift in the power sector, where consumers are increasingly becoming “prosumers”—both producing and consuming electricity. Residential batteries and solar systems, once viewed primarily as tools for bill savings or backup power, are now emerging as valuable grid assets that can provide capacity, flexibility, and resilience at scale.
Texas is a particularly compelling market for this model. The state operates its own independent power grid through ERCOT, which relies heavily on market-based signals to balance supply and demand. Extreme weather events in recent years, including winter storms and prolonged heat waves, have exposed vulnerabilities in the system and underscored the need for more flexible, fast-responding resources. Distributed energy resources, such as home batteries, can respond within seconds, making them well-suited to address short-term imbalances and peak demand spikes.
For NRG, the partnership strengthens its position in the evolving energy landscape by expanding beyond traditional generation and retail supply into customer-centric, distributed solutions. For Sunrun, it provides a pathway to scale the grid services value of its growing fleet of residential systems, reinforcing its role as a provider of clean, reliable energy infrastructure rather than solely a rooftop solar installer.
The collaboration also aligns with broader trends toward decarbonization and grid modernization. By leveraging solar energy stored in home batteries, the program can help reduce reliance on fossil-fuel-based peaker plants, which are often among the most expensive and carbon-intensive sources of electricity. While NRG continues to operate a diverse energy portfolio that includes natural gas, the integration of distributed renewable resources supports a more balanced and resilient energy mix.
Looking ahead, both companies indicated that they will continue to develop and refine offerings that expand participation and maximize the value of aggregated residential energy assets. As adoption grows, the virtual power plant model could become an increasingly important tool for meeting Texas’s energy needs, particularly as electrification, data centers, and population growth drive higher electricity consumption.
In an energy system facing rapid change, the Sunrun–NRG partnership represents a forward-looking approach—one that blends technology, customer engagement, and market innovation to deliver reliable power, strengthen grid resilience, and unlock new value from homes across Texas.
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