Despite struggles on Capitol Hill over energy policy, Silicon Valley innovation is paving the way to energy independence and environmental security.

"SunRun launched last year with a simple goal: to minimize homeowners' power bills with hassle-free solar electricity," said Nat Kreamer, President, Co-Founder and COO of SunRun.

"The investment from Foundation will accelerate our ability to deliver SunRun Solar Service to our rapidly growing market, and we're very excited to partner with them."

SunRun Solar Service substantially reduces homeowners' energy costs by offering rooftop solar electricity as a hassle-free home service. Instead of making a large capital investment in solar panels and shouldering the burdens of system maintenance, the homeowner is billed only for the solar electricity used.

Since SunRun owns and maintains the solar electricity system, as well as guarantees its output, the homeowner can buy solar electricity from SunRun just like traditional electricity from a utility, but at a low rate that never increases.

"With the cost of fossil fuel based energy skyrocketing, SunRun's pioneering approach of delivering solar as a service is a huge positive step toward making residential solar affordable to every homeowner," said Steve Vassallo of Foundation Capital.

"We are deeply committed to building great companies with entrepreneurs whose goal is to rapidly deploy clean technologies that have the potential to change the world; SunRun is doing just that."

Only SunRun's solar power purchase agreement (PPA) offers homeowners a low fixed rate for solar electricity. Homeowners pay a minimal initial fee, and secure a rate for solar electricity from SunRun that is lower than their utility's rates. In order to guarantee savings, SunRun monitors and maintains the solar electricity system installed for the customer, making any repairs and replacing worn parts at no additional cost.

"SunRun is a leader in the rapidly growing residential solar market," said Parker Weil, head of Clean Energy Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch.

"Their full-service business model brings a cost-effective product to an underserved market. Additionally, in a strained power grid environment, there are attractive economics to SunRun's easily scalable distributed energy platform."

"I've been onboard personally as an investor with SunRun from the beginning, and am extremely excited about both the cost-saving innovation they're bringing to homeowners, as well as the growth they're fostering for the solar industry itself," said Gregory Avis, Founder, Managing Director, Summit Partners.

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