Houston-based solar energy company Sunnova files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Business
The bankruptcy filing came just days after the company laid off more than half its workforce.
Sunnova, a Houston-based solar energy company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy days after laying off more than half of the company’s workforce.
A subsidiary of the energy company filed petitions seeking relief under Chapter 11 of the United States’ bankruptcy code on June 1. Sunnova Energy International Inc. and Sunnova Intermediate Holdings, LLC filed for bankruptcy in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Sunday.
The filings come after Sunnova, struggling with financial woes, filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month that the company would reduce its workforce by 55% — roughly 718 employees — in order to reduce the company’s operating expenses and “in an effort to preserve value for stakeholders.”
The Trump administration last month canceled a nearly $3 billion government loan guarantee to the solar installation company, Reuters reported.
Company officials wrote in bankruptcy court filings Sunday that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is in the best interest of the company, its stakeholders and creditors. The company’s assets are listed between $10 billion and $50 billion. The company’s total debt is just over $10 billion, according to the filings.
In a letter addressed to the Texas Workforce Commission on May 30, Latasha Bernard, a Sunnova vice president, wrote that for several months, the company had worked to secure capital, but was unable to secure what was needed to avoid significant layoffs.
“In parallel with these negotiations, certain of the Sunnova’s tax equity investors unexpectedly shut off access to further advances thereby materially reducing Sunnova’s available liquidity and in turn preventing the continued origination of new solar systems and the completion of existing solar systems,” Bernard wrote.
The financial barriers were unforeseen, according to the letter, and “arose against a sudden, unexpected and increasingly challenging macro-economic climate that roiled the entire renewables industry.” In turn, Sunnova, which made financial milestones in the renewable energy industry in its heyday, struggled to compete in the energy capital of the world.
The extensive layoffs took effect on May 30.