Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA), Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ: RUN) and Renew Home are working together to free up enough electrical capacity to support the equivalent of 17 large data centers during periods of peak demand, the companies announced on Wednesday. Sunrun is the largest U.S. residential solar and battery installer, while Renew Home, a Google spin-off, manages smart home energy devices such as thermostats and water heaters.
The companies plan to create what is known as a virtual power plant, a network of distributed energy devices such as batteries, thermostats and solar systems that can be coordinated through software to reduce pressure on the grid during peak demand.
Instead of relying solely on new power plants or transmission lines, the companies want to tap energy resources already sitting inside homes. After consumers opt in, software could charge home batteries when solar energy is abundant and discharge that power later when electricity demand spikes, particularly during evening hours when AI data centers continue consuming power.
Sunrun CEO Mary Powell told The New York Times that utility-scale energy projects take years to build, while distributed residential systems can provide immediate capacity.
The companies said the partnership could free enough electrical capacity to support the equivalent of 17 large data centers during peak demand.
AI Power Crunch Deepens
The push comes as electricity demand from AI infrastructure accelerates across the United States.
Goldman Sachs estimates global data center electricity demand could surge 220% by 2030, rising by 905 terawatt-hours to 1,350 TWh, with roughly 60% of new demand expected to come from the U.S. Data centers currently account for about 6% of U.S. electricity demand and could rise to 11% by 2030.
Opposition to new AI infrastructure has also intensified. At least 75 U.S. data center projects worth about $130 billion were blocked or delayed in the first quarter of 2026 amid concerns over electricity use, water consumption, land use and rising utility bills.
Musk's Solar Vision
The partnership also aligns with Tesla CEO Elon Musk's broader energy strategy tied to AI expansion.
Earlier this year, Musk said Tesla aims to produce 100 gigawatts of solar cells annually to help power AI data centers, underscoring his view that energy supply could become one of the biggest constraints on AI growth.
Resource demands from AI infrastructure are increasingly under scrutiny beyond electricity alone. NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) recently pushed back on concerns around AI-related water consumption, arguing that newer cooling technologies are reducing the environmental footprint of data centers.
Price Action
Shares of Sunrun Inc. closed Tuesday at $12.81, down 5.95%, but surged 22.19% in premarket trading on Wednesday to $15.65 following the report. Meanwhile, shares of Tesla Inc. closed Tuesday at $381.61, down 5.79% on the day, and rose 0.47% in premarket trading Wednesday to $383.42.
Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings show Tesla with a Momentum score of 22.09, Growth of 88.46, Quality of 66.48 and Value of 3.51. The stock has a negative price trend across short-, medium- and long-term time frames.