Another non-China solar giant fails as American PV pioneer SunPower files for bankruptcy

SunPower, once the darling of the American solar industry and its leading PV panel manufacturer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, announcing also that it will sell some of its business assets for $US45 million.

Tom Werner, SunPower’s executive chairman, penned an update for company staff this week announcing that the company had reached an agreement with Complete Solaria to acquire the assets associated with SunPower’s Blue Raven Solar business, New Homes business, and non-installing Dealer network.

The so-called “stalking-horse” agreement – an initial bidding price for a bankrupt company’s assets – will see Complete Solaria acquire the assets and certain related liabilities in return for the $US45 million in cash.

SunPower, meanwhile, announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. This will allow other interested parties the opportunity to submit competing bids for SunPower’s assets.

“Although technically this bankruptcy process is Chapter 11 (restructuring) rather than Chapter 7 (liquidation), in effect it is a liquidation of SunPower,” Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov told Reuters.

He expects the asset sale process to conclude later this year, after which SunPower, which had been founded all the way back in 1985, will “cease to exist.”

The news comes as no surprise, following on the heels of several years’ worth of financial issues and accounting controversies, but it is nevertheless a massive fall from grace for one of America’s pioneering clean technology companies.

It has been a long and tumultuous journey for SunPower, one that has, in recent years, led from misstep to misstep.

Founded in 1985 by Richard Swanson, a Stanford University professor, SunPower grew to prominence in the early 2000s and dominated clean technology headlines as it went from strength to strength, going public in 2005 and reaching profitability for the first time in 2006.

SunPower quickly reached multi-billion-dollar market capitalisation and was valued at $10 billion as recently as 2021.

French oil and gas supermajor Total acquired a majority ownership stake in the company in 2011 in an effort to bring a measure of financial stability at the same time as China’s solar industry drove down prices – a reality which never really materialised.

SunPower spun out its manufacturing division into a separate business in Singapore in 2019, with the resulting Maxeon Solar Technologies now recognised as one of the world’s leading solar PV manufacturers. The Maxeon business is unaffected by the latest developments.

But in recent years things have gone from bad to worse for SunPower Corp.

Unable to compete with Chinese competitors, elbowed out in the US by local rivals such as Sunrun and Sunnova, and faced with the same industry challenges affecting the whole industry as a result of both the global COVID-19 pandemic and the knock-on affect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, SunPower was more recently plagued by a succession of accounting controversies.

“For nearly 40 years, SunPower has made solar energy more accessible to Americans, driven by our mission to change the way our world is powered,” Werner said.

“We are confident Complete Solaria’s CEO, T.J. Rodgers, will carry forward our vision to shape the future of residential solar as a pioneer in this space

“In light of the challenges SunPower has faced, the proposed transaction offers a significant opportunity for key parts of our business to continue our legacy under new ownership.

“We are working to secure long-term solutions for the remaining areas of our business, while maintaining our focus on supporting our valued employees, customers, dealers, builders, and partners.”

The news was greeted with sadness by many of the American company’s ex employees, including in Australia where its panels were used in some of the country’s landmark initial projects, such as the Uterne tracking plant in Alice Springs.

“Having had the privilege to spend 8 wonderful years building my career in the company with the best and most innovative solar products (such as IBC cells, shingle modules, BESS VPP, single axis trackers, solar carports, redeployable solar, BIPV) and having the opportunity to work across project development and EPC on some of the largest and complex utility ground mount and C&I rooftop installations of the time (Uterne, then the largest solar farm in southern hemisphere, Barangaroo, Acton Nishi, Perth Zoo Carport, Breakwater Sorrento Quay BIPV, Griffith Uni Facade, Great Barrier Reef Park Authority), and having my eyes opened to the world of the future on my numerous trips to SPWR HQ in the Bay Area, means today’s announcement about the bankruptcy of SunPower Corporation in the US marks a truly sad day,” wrote Andrew Gilhooly, the company’s former head of business development in Australia.

SunPower Australia, also part of the spun off Maxeon operation, is also unaffected by the development and the SunPower branded solar panels designed, manufactured, and sold by Maxeon Solar Technologies are also unaffected.