By Tanay Dhumal
(Reuters) -Sunnova Vitality stated on Sunday it had filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety in the USA, because the residential photo voltaic panel installer buckled beneath the strain of mounting debt and weakening demand.
Sunnova is the second residential photo voltaic firm to file for chapter this month, reflecting the challenges confronted by the business because it struggles to deal with larger rates of interest, an incentive lower in prime market California and fears of subsidy rollbacks.
Final week, privately held Photo voltaic Mosaic filed for chapter safety, whereas business pioneer SunPower collapsed a yr again.
On Monday, Sunnova stated it had entered into agreements with Atlas SP Companions and Lennar Properties beneath which it could promote sure property to every firm for a worth of $15 million and $16 million respectively, pending court docket approval. The corporate will proceed its common operations all through the sale course of.
Sunnova filed for defense within the Chapter Court docket for the Southern District of Texas after warning in March that it won’t be capable of proceed as a going concern.
The corporate listed its estimated property and liabilities within the vary of $10 billion to $50 billion and had a complete debt of $10.67 billion as of December 31, based on a court docket submitting.
Sunnova stated final week it could lay off about 55% of its workforce, or 718 staff, in a bid to chop spending.
Earlier this month, its unit, Sunnova TEP Developer, had additionally filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety.
President Donald Trump’s administration, which is pushing to maximise oil and fuel manufacturing, canceled a partial mortgage assure of $2.92 billion final month that was awarded to Sunnova by the Biden administration.
Firms that put photo voltaic panels on U.S. houses stated final month {that a} Republican price range invoice that has superior in Congress might deal an enormous blow to the business by eliminating a beneficiant subsidy for householders that had buttressed the business’s development.
“Relying on what occurs with the tax invoice in Congress, the situations on this market might develop into even worse in 2026, as a result of Congress is contemplating ending the tax credit score for residential photo voltaic,” Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov stated.
(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal and Angela Christy in Bengaluru, further reporting by Sumit Saha and Gursimran Kaur; Modifying by Shinjini Ganguli, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Anil D’Silva and Alan Barona)