The long and bright story of SunPower is over. “On August 5, 2024, SunPower Corporation, and nine (9) of its affiliates (collectively, the “Debtors”) filed petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware seeking relief under chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.” Translating into English, that means that SunPower filed for bankruptcy.
It is a long story about what went wrong with a company. In a few words, it was a combination of:
- bad financial and operational decisions (errors in reports for 2023);
- changes in local solar incentive programs (California’s adoption of a new Net Billing Tariff in 2023 that cut the incentives and subsidies and led to regional market decline);
- high interest rates for the corporate loans;
- bad luck.
Each reason has a story worth of a TV show with a few seasons and several episodes each. But let’s leave it for Netflix and the colleges’ economics, law, and GR courses.
First of all, we should calm down the Blue Raven customers. It is well known that Blue Raven was bought by Sun Power in 2021. No worries; Blue Raven will be transferred to another well-known solar installer, Complete Solaria, Inc. This company is using the rule of Stalking Horse Bidder: they were the first to propose to buy some of SunPower’s assets, and they will buy them.
Secondly, if you are a SunPower customer, visit the F.A.Q section below the CEO’s open letter on the website.
Here is their answer to the most frequent question: “I am a SunPower customer, what does this mean for me?”. The official answer: “Installed products should continue operating as expected at this time. While SunPower is currently unable to service your system, we are diligently working on an agreement with a service provider and recommend you continue to check SunPower.com for updates. We’ll share details on how this may impact your manufacturer-supported warranties as they are available. For additional information, please reach out to our Customer Care team at 1-800-SUNPOWER.”
If you have SunPower solar equipment installed, contact your installer. Some installers have already told their customers what to do. Freedom Solar Power has released its own statement with a Q&A section. On Reddit, several customers posted emails from their solar panel installers with explanations and instructions. (Find the answer from the Empower customer; they sent him a perfect letter with enough information.).
What remains unclear for now:
1) What happens to warranties in SunPower products (that were produced before the production was separated and named Maxeon) and SunPower installations? Are the warranties gone, or will some other solar company pick them up?
2) Who will operate the SunPower Monitoring System, and what will happen to it? Maintaining and developing this system costs money unless some other solar company puts it on its soldiers. And what will they want for that?
Solar Power Systems will be following this whole situation and keep you up-to-date.
Dmytro Kovtoniuk is an SEO and automation specialist at SolarPowerSystems. Dmytro’s experience in solar projects and automation and passion for applying mathematical principles to real-life tasks—a commitment shared with the rest of the team—are crucial in shaping the company’s strategy for presenting accurate and user-friendly information on solar technology.
