US residential solar and storage company Sunrun has narrowed its net loss for the first quarter of 2024, but its solar capacity additions have continued to drop for four quarters in a row.
In Q1 2024, Sunrun added 177MW of new solar capacity, dropping from 219.7MW in Q4 2023. This has pushed the company’s total portfolio of installed solar capacity to 6.9GW.
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Storage attachment rates – the percentage of solar projects built with co-located storage facilities – on installations reached 50% in Q1, up from 14.9% in the Q1 2023 and 45.2% in Q4 2023.
Meanwhile, customer additions were 24,038, including 22,058 subscriber additions. As of the end of Q1, the company had 957,313 customers, including 803,145 subscribers. Customers grew by 15% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023.
Although Sunrun’s customer and capacity additions dropped, the company has narrowed its net loss, dropping from US$240.4 million in Q1 2023 to US$87.8 million. Total revenue for Q1 was US$458.2 million in Q1 2024, down by US$131.6 million, or 22%, from Q1 2023.
“We are confident in strong growth in installation activities through the year as the fundamental demand drivers of our business continue to be robust,” said Mary Powell, CEO of Sunrun.
“We are (also) confident in strong growth in installation activities through the year as the fundamental demand drivers of our business continue to be robust. Utility rates continue to rise due to the stress and strain of climatic events on the grid and the massive utility capital expenditures. Solar and storage equipment costs are declining, while our operating efficiency continues to improve,” she added.
Looking ahead, Sunrun’s installed solar capacity is expected to be between 190MW and 200MW in Q2 2024.
“Because of the pull-in of demand in California in early 2023, year-over-year comparisons are less relevant in Q2. We are confident that Q1 volumes will mark the low point in the year and we expect robust sequential growth into the rest of the year,” said Danny Abajian, CFO of Sunrun.
For 2024, the company reduced the target as it is expected to be reflecting a decline of 15% to flat growth for the full-year 2024, a reduction from prior guidance range of -5% to +5% growth. In a previous financial result announcement, the company said the expected installed solar capacity will be between 971MW and 1,073MW for 2024.
Installed storage capacity for 2024 is expected to be in a range of 800MWh and 1,000MWh 2024, representing approximately 40% to 75% growth year-on-year.