All I wanted was a whole-home battery ...

This week's entry is about the messy process of figuring out how to decarbonize my house. Tl;dr the solar industry is less about energy, and more about banking.

My phone is basically unusable right now. My phone might as well be a live cobra. I’m trying to stay as far away from it as I possibly can. It’s full of random texts and voicemails, and I’ve spent three days furiously typing “STOP” and blocking phone numbers from such nice-sounding organizations as Sunrun and Semper Solaris and SunPower and on and on and on and on and on. Here’s what happened.

I have solar panels on my house already (sorry to disappoint you, every company calling me). But what I don’t have is a whole-home battery system, and I want one, because PG&E turns the power off a lot, or can’t keep the power on during severe weather events, which of course are increasing all over the world.

Battery backup is a hard thing to buy, because most of the time, battery systems are paired with solar installations. For example, Tesla won’t let you buy a Powerwall as a standalone purchase through its app or website. You have to find a certified installer and order through them, and this is all possible, but it’s not easy, and it involves a lot of online forms that you fill out in search of a “free quote.”

I tried to avoid as many of those as I could, but eventually, in search of an installer, I filled out an online form at the Enphase website. I realized a little too late that the form wasn’t sufficiently specific, and I also seemed like I was looking for solar panels in addition to the battery. So, readers, it’s as though I went online with a bullhorn shouting “I would like a reverse mortgage!” Or, “I’m in the market for a used car and I would love to buy the TruCoat!” Or maybe, “if you ask me nicely, I would be happy to send you a gift card in any amount you like, and even let you take over my computer desktop for tech support!”

The wolves of the solar industry have descended on me like I’m a sizzling steak. And unfortunately, while solar power is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet in terms of mass decarbonization and transitioning to renewable energy, the solar industry is basically a hot mess of sketchy banking. That’s because the financial tools that made solar panels affordable for so many people — namely leases and loans — are now financial instruments that are bundled together and sold and re-sold like mortgages and used to back securities. (Here’s some more reading on lease securitization, if you really want to go deep.)

Basically, the product you’re being sold is not the panels (which are a low-margin commodity). It’s the lease or the loan. Those get rolled up into residential solar asset-backed securities. (More on ABS in general.) Near as I can tell, Sunrun actually pioneered this concept around 2011, ironically in the wake of the financial crisis. By 2016, it was being hailed as an innovation in renewable energy finance — which it is! But it’s important to understand that, increasingly, these financial tools are the actual product. And that’s probably delaying things like innovations in actual rooftop solar pricing (which needs to get a lot cheaper) and it’s creating a perverse incentive structure for companies in the solar business.

If the incentive is to get the panels on your roof and then walk away and reap profits by selling the loan or lease, then yeah, there’s not a lot of incentive for great customer service after the panels are installed. And the scramble for more supply (in the form of more loans or leases to sell) is going to mean that an innocent search for whole-home battery installers unleashes a pack of hungry used-car dealers on you.

Oh, also, while I’m at it, as residential solar does become more common, it’s a huge real estate story, too. When I bought my house, I also had to assume my solar lease, and it was a nightmare. (Ahem, Tesla.) Heads up if you’re house-hunting, look for listings with owned solar, and if you’re selling in a buyer’s market, plan to buy that system first, because now that I know better, I’d 100% choose a house with owned solar over having to transfer the lease.

Obviously, none of this is to say you shouldn’t get solar, or whole-home batteries. But part of the consumer process (and yes, I still believe in us consumers to drive real change!) is figuring out the landscape, and that’s what’s happening as more of us start doing the research. On that note, I have a friend (shoutout Cece!) who recently went through a whole bunch of digging to start decarbonizing her house — she looked at solar, batteries, electrifying appliances and HVAC, new windows, the whole thing. And at the end of the day, she determined that the quickest, most cost-effective place to start was with insulation. Just literally stuffing the place with better insulation to reduce heating and cooling loss. I’m doing that!! Wherever you start is a start!

Reading and recommendations

I don’t know if you’re interested or not, but you’re here, so I guess I might as well tell you.

Audio: I’ve been making my way through the Gray Man audio books (because I love crappy action and have a minor military fetish and I’ll never apologize for it, welcome to my newsletter) on dog walks and car rides, and I’m up to Book 10 and I love them all.

Bedside: My friend (shoutout Ramanan!) introduced me to Joe Abercrombie, and I’m making my way through The Blade Itself, which is a good mix of fantasy, GOT intrigue, and relatably tragic characters.

Viewing: I cannot get enough of The Peripheral and I might have to re-watch it when it ends (please don’t end). And the World Cup, which sucks me in every year. I think I’m rooting for France now (I got on the Mbappe bandwagon last year, I’ll have you know), but my son is for Senegal all the way.

Gadgets: I finally broke down a bought a smart lock and any minute now I’m definitely going to install it. Also, I resisted for a long time, but Black Friday got me and I bought a few of these portable 3-in-1 magnetic chargers (for phone, Airpods and Apple Watch) to give as gifts and for myself. And I’m having a holiday party and I want it to have some pizazz so damned if I didn’t buy these SICK SPOTLIGHTS.

Take care, take Twitter breaks, and see you next week (I hope!).

-Molly

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