Can you take part in an AI data center in your home?

The solar and home energy storage company is expanding into AI data centers, but not by building one — instead, it’s offering to pay its customers to install its units in their homes. Sunrun is launching a new pilot program “Distributed AI computing”. which will “place compute nodes in buildings equipped with Sunrun solar panels and battery storage systems.” Customers will be “paid” for participating in the trial program.

Sunrun plans to sell distributed computing power from nodes to “enterprise computing consumers,” such as AI companies. It’s a new way to find resources and space for AI computing infrastructure, as data centers are experiencing a global expansion. A study released in May showed that more than 70 percent of Americans opposition to building new data centers in their area, often due to concerns about pollution, noise, and use of water and electricity.

Instead of consolidating computing power into one large data center, Sunrun’s software can be accessed through smaller computer clusters located across the country. Sunrun says it has previously provided “successful” evidence for the program, but it remains unclear how it will work. This is a new area for Sunrun, which focuses on home energy storage. 1.1 million Sunrun customers can sign up a waiting program operator if they are open to host a compute node. The company says it “hopes to complete the pilot in the coming months and will see the results” before rolling out the app more broadly.