Sunnova, an American solar energy company based in Houston, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, after dismissing nearly half of its employees. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing allows Sunnova to remain in business while reorganizing its finances, according to the Houston Chronicle. [emphasis, links added]
The Biden administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) had financed a partial loan guarantee of $3 billion to Sunnova in 2023, under the DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO), but Sunnova announced on May 28 that the DOE, under the Trump administration, had canceled the loan guarantee.
The Biden DOE’s loan to Sunnova was the largest such federal government award to a solar energy company in American history, the Washington Free Beacon noted that same year.
The company warned in March that it would not be able to continue operations. Sunnova’s 2024 financial results report said it “could offer no assurances [they would] be able to successfully implement any of these [financial] plans or obtain financing at acceptable terms or at all.”
Sunnova hired a financial advisor to help “manage certain aspects of [the] debt management and refinancing efforts,” according to the same report.
The company’s stock in March dropped a staggering 64%. While its current assets and liabilities stand between $10 billion and $50 billion, as of Dec. 31, Sunnova had a total debt of $10.67 billion, according to CNBC.
Sunnova published an 8-K filing on June 5, announcing the Board Director’s approval of a reduction in force totaling 718 employees. The reduction became effective May 30, prior to publication of the filing.
The layoffs affected over half of Sunnova’s workforce and included the interim chief financial officer, Robyn Liska, who was appointed only two months prior, according to PV Tech.
The bankruptcy results from a diminished prospect for U.S. sales as the solar industry at large suffers from tariffs on imported supplies, lessened state incentives, and high interest rates, the Straits Times reported.
However, critics have long demanded that the LPO stop giving out vast loans, especially to businesses that would not survive.
Read rest at Daily Caller
“… the Straits Times…” Singapore. Couldn’t get the bad news from a US publication?
Makes me wonder just what else is being ‘self-censored’ in the US.
So just how much did Biden the Blunder pour down the hole of Go Green Waste