Sunrun enters Florida’s solar market

At pv magazine we’ve written a lot of articles about how changes to Florida’s tax code could lead to a big growth in the state’s distributed solar segment. But it appears that we and the advocates we cite are not the only ones who see a big future for the state. Today Sunrun announced that it will open two offices in Florida, following on Tesla’s decision to enter the market last December and Vivint making a similar move in March.

Sunrun has said that it will make both cash purchases and its solar loans available to customers, but not its lease options at this time. This is a strange position, given that Governor Rick Scott’s signing of SB 90 last Friday exempted leased PV systems from 80% of their prior tax burden.

VinyaSun CEO Justin Hoysradt, who formerly worked on the SB 90 issue for Vote Solar, has told pv magazine that this move makes the economics of both solar leasing and direct purchase very compelling, even considering Florida’s low electricity rates. Leasing is also the only third-party solar option in the state, as power purchase agreements for both commercial and residential customers are still illegal in Florida.

Sunrun will offer its systems for sale in Florida at Costco superstores as well as directly. The company now operates in 22 states, and is the only one of the top 3 residential installers which is currently growing on a year-over-year basis, after Tesla and Vivint scaled back their presence in several markets.