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Founder / Operator·Clean Energy

Edward Fenster

Co-Founder, Vice Chair at Sunrun

San Francisco, CA

EF
LinkedIn
Why they matter

The person inside Sunrun who actually built the structured-finance plumbing. Uniquely deep on capital stacks for distributed energy.

Background

Co-founded Sunrun in 2007 alongside Lynn Jurich and Nat Kreamer. Served as Sunrun's CEO 2007–2014 then transitioned to Executive Chair / Vice Chair, where he has led capital markets and structured finance strategy. Prior to Sunrun, worked in private equity. Stanford GSB MBA 2007. Recognized for architecting the early residential solar tax-equity and securitization frameworks.

Notable deals

  • 2009
    Architected Sunrun's first residential solar tax-equity facilities, a template later adopted across the industry.
  • 2015
    Oversaw Sunrun's NASDAQ IPO as Executive Chair.
  • 2020
    Led capital strategy through the $3.2B Vivint Solar acquisition and subsequent securitization-heavy financing programs.

Call-prep brief

Background

Ed is the structured-finance brain behind Sunrun. He pioneered the residential solar tax-equity / lease-asset securitization model now used industry-wide. As Vice Chair he focuses on capital strategy, M&A, and policy.

What he cares about

  • Securitization, ABS, and capital-markets rails for distributed-asset cash flows.
  • Tax-credit transferability under IRA. He's been an active commenter to Treasury on guidance.
  • Long-duration energy storage as the next asset class to crack open structured-finance for.

Recent moves

  • Stayed on as Vice Chair through Mary Powell's CEO transition; oversees capital strategy and IR-adjacent matters.
  • Speaks at SFA (Structured Finance Association) and tax-equity conferences.

Sensitivities

  • Treat him as a finance principal, not a solar evangelist. He'll respect specifics about tranching, advance rates, and rating agency conversations.
  • Don't ask basic IRA questions. He's been in the room with Treasury.

Questions to ask

  1. Which distributed-asset class is next to get a true ABS market: storage, EV charging, or microgrid offtake?
  2. How does he see tax-credit transferability changing the competitive landscape vs. traditional tax-equity?
  3. Where are advance rates and credit spreads going for solar ABS over 2026?

Outreach draft

Subject
Storage ABS: 20 minutes?
Hi Ed, I lead clean-energy investing at [Firm]. We're putting capital behind the next wave of distributed-asset financing; specifically, long-duration storage and behind-the-meter, and your work architecting Sunrun's tax-equity and ABS stack is the template we're learning from. Would you have 20 minutes for a structured-finance-heavy conversation? I'd come prepared with our specific questions on advance rates and transferability dynamics. Best regards, [Your name] [Your firm]

Linked companies

Sources

Strongest evidencePage title2 public sourcesVerified2026-05-27How the grades work