SunPower Corporation in the USA has filed for bankruptcy protection – but Australian owners of SunPower branded solar panels shouldn’t panic.
Earlier this week, SunPower Corp announced the company and some of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code1. The firm also announced it had entered into a purchase agreement with Complete Solaria Inc. for the assets associated with its Blue Raven Solar business, New Homes business, and non-installing Dealer network.
In a note to the SunPower team, Executive Chairman Tom Werner said:
“We know you may have questions about what this announcement means for our valued customers and partners. While we may not have all of the answers at this time, we intend to keep you updated as necessary as we navigate this process.”
This development follows an announcement in April this year that the company was winding down SunPower Residential Installation (SPRI) locations and ditching direct sales in the USA. That announcement was accompanied by news of major job losses at the firm; estimated at the time to affect 1,000 staff.
A Very Brief History Of SunPower – And Maxeon
Headquartered in California, SunPower was founded in 1985 by Richard Swanson, an electrical engineering professor from Stanford University. “Swanson’s Law” is named after him, which observes that the price of solar panels tends to drop 20 percent for every doubling of cumulative shipped volume.
Throughout the 1990’s, the company’s solar technology was used to power innovative applications, such as solar race cars and novel aircraft; including NASA’s Pathfinder.
Mr. Werner was recruited in 2003, and in 2004, the firm’s first manufacturing facility started production. The company was listed on the NASDAQ in 2005, and another manufacturing facility came online in 2007. During the decade, SunPower also set various records for solar cell efficiency.
In 2011, French oil company TotalEnergies acquired a majority stake in the firm, and in 2014 SunPower cranked out its billionth solar cell. The rest of the decade was marked by other accomplishments and milestones.
In 2020, the solar PV manufacturing aspect of SunPower was separated from the US installation side and a new company was born – Maxeon Solar Technologies. Maxeon began producing SunPower branded solar panels, although the Performance series was still manufactured by SunPower in the USA for that market only for several more years.
Throughout its PV manufacturing period, SunPower maintained a focus on innovation and premium quality modules – with a price tag to match.
What’s The Impact In Australia
A notice on the Australian Maxeon web site states:
“SunPower products are manufactured by Maxeon Solar Technologies and sold by its subsidiary SunPower Corporation Australia Pty Ltd., independent from the US-based SunPower Corporation.”
Maxeon is responsible for the warranties of any existing SunPower panels installed here in Australia. So, here’s hoping Maxeon (which has also been experiencing challenges) will endure. They’ll need to for a very long time as some warranties are 40 years.
SQ No Longer Recommending SunPower/Maxeon Panels
SunPower branded panels have long been listed on SolarQuotes’ recommended solar panels chart. Sadly, they have now been removed. While separate companies, the average residential solar buyer doesn’t know or care about the distinctions and the writing is on the wall for expensive modules given other lower-cost good quality solar panels available these days2.
SolarQuotes operates under the “grandmother rule”:
“The rule is – if I wouldn’t recommend a solar installer to my grandmother, I won’t recommend them through SolarQuotes,” says SQ founder Finn Peacock.
The same applies to solar components – and in this case, for the reasons stated above.
Footnotes
- Chapter 11 usually involves a reorganization of a company’s assets and debts under court supervision, but in this case it also provides breathing room to complete a sale process while operations continue. If SunPower is unable to facilitate sale transactions, the businesses will be wound down. ↩
- But it’s worth noting some of those manufacturers have been or are being pursued by Maxeon over alleged patent infringements. ↩
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- Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/sunpower-bankruptcy-australia-mb2981/