SunPower America goes bankrupt, but SunPower in the rest of the world doing fine
The American solar sales and installation company SunPower has filed for bankruptcy, but that has no consequences for people who install or purchase SunPower panels in the rest of the world. How is that possible?Disturbing news from the world of solar energy: American solar company SunPower has filed for bankruptcy in the US and will (most likely) cease to exist. The company, which was founded in 1985, is best known to us for the high-efficiency solar panels that Zonnefabriek has been selling and installing since 2012. What does this bankruptcy mean for you and for us, for example for those very long product warranties on solar panels?
What are the consequences of the bankruptcy?
Fortunately, the answer is: for us in the Netherlands and everywhere outside the US, the bankruptcy has no consequences. The company that has now gone bankrupt is completely separate from the SunPower solar panels that we market here. In fact, SunPower has not been producing solar panels at all for years!
The manufacturer of SunPower solar panels is actually: Maxeon Solar
Maxeon Solar has been the manufacturer of solar panels under the SunPower brand name since 2020
SunPower became known primarily for its unique technology, with which the company managed to take crystalline solar panels to a higher level. The patented production process made it possible to get solar cell efficiency that was always a few percentage points higher than the competition. This made the name ‘SunPower’ very well-known, both in the US and all over the world.
In 2020 SunPower's American managers decided to split the company into two parts. The production of solar panels, including all associated patents, was placed in a separate company, called ‘Maxeon Solar’. This company was registered in Singapore. Maxeon solar panels continued to be sold in most markets under the brand name ‘SunPower’.
The rest of the company consisted of a sales and installation branch, a kind of Zonnefabriek in the US. End customers like you and us were able to purchase their solar panel system directly from SunPower America, using panels produced by Maxeon Solar. The idea behind the split was that selling and installing systems would generate more money than manufacturing solar panels. The margins that companies can make on the production of solar panels are rather thin, due to the continuing price pressure and overcapacity in China.
In 2020, SunPower split into two separate companies, an installation business in the US and a manufacturing business in Singapore
SunPower America: bad decisions
Unfortunately for SunPower, this strategy did not prove successful. Although solar energy is also gaining an increasing share of electricity production in the US, it is not easy for installers of residential systems to keep their heads above water. Changing regulations in a number of states (particularly California) have resulted in fewer than expected residential systems being sold in the US. In addition, SunPower America's management team made a number of decisions that turned out to be financially unfavorable, which meant that the company has now ultimately gone under.
That's very sad for them of course, but for us the bankruptcy has no consequences whatsoever. Maxeon Solar still produces solar panels under the brand name SunPower and all warranties of all SunPower solar panels that Zonnefabriek has ever sold and installed are fully honored by Maxeon Solar. The very high quality of the panels means that we very rarely have to file a claim with Maxeon for a broken panel, but when we do, they always help us very quickly and efficiently.
Our new battery systems with the brand name SunPower are also made and sold by Maxeon. So, fortunately, we have absolutely nothing to do with SunPower America.
What if a bankruptcy were to affect you?
Such a large and well-known company's bankruptcy is a good reminder to be aware of your rights in the event that a company you do have dealings with would go bankrupt. We have put together the most important information about this on our FAQ page about warranties. If Zonnefabriek were to go bankrupt, you will always retain the product warranty given by the manufacturer of your products, such as SunPower (Maxeon), Q-cells, SMA or SolarEdge. If a product becomes defective within the warranty period, you can contact the manufacturer directly to get the damage repaired. The manufacturer in question will usually hire another installation company to visit you, because they do not have their own installers. Zonnefabriek has a lot of experience with this; we are often asked by customers and manufacturers to provide a solution when a competing installation company has gone bankrupt (such as BonGo Solar recently).
If the manufacturer of the product goes bankrupt and the product has an issue, we at Zonnefabriek will try to find a suitable solution. If it happens within the duration of our installation warranty (10 years for most of our customers), we're normally able to do this without costs for the customer. If the installation warranty has already expired and the manufacturer is bankrupt, then there could be costs for the customer. Fortunately, this rarely happens: Zonnefabriek carefully assesses new products by not only looking at the quality of the material but also at the financial situation of the manufacturer.
In any case, neither us nor you will be affected by the bankruptcy of SunPower America. Our partner Maxeon Solar is a solid company with a solid financial basis. And what is perhaps even more important: the SunPower solar panels from Maxeon are solid solar panels that deliver the best performance year in, year out: we have been able to testify to that since 2012!