SunPower

There may be a global solar boom but a drastic revision of California’s net metering program has ruptured the industry overnight and is affecting everyone from installers to financiers to makers of power electronics.

SunPower, a publicly traded US solar company, has issued a warning about its business in a new regulatory filing, raising concerns about its ability to remain viable.

Small-scale PV systems drove the installation of more than 200 GW of solar capacity last year and could support more than 300 GW this year. That means a reset for utilities.

Private equity firm KKR committed to purchasing loans made to SunPower customers.

The search for ever higher conversion efficiency has driven solar researchers to focus on back-contact cell approaches, and efforts to devise more cost-effective manufacturing are bringing technologies such as interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar into the mainstream, as Mark Hutchins reports.

SunPower says more American people are turning to solar, as US retail energy prices rose 14.3% year over year through August.

A quarterly update top-loaded with promising business growth in the company’s residential segment revealed commercial and industrial operations supplied an $8 million loss to the three-month figures, with supply chain issues and project timetables blamed.

The Singapore-based manufacturer operates two factories in the Baja California state bordering the United States and the entire output of the facility in Mexicali will be shipped exclusively to the US market. Furthermore, the company’s chief revenue officer, Mark Babcock, told pv magazine that a manufacturing facility is also being considered in the US.

The company said it will consider options for its Commercial & Industrial Solutions business including new ownership.

The TotalEnergies-controlled solar manufacturer will secure an, as yet undetermined chunk of a new €118.6 million low-carbon innovation fund to start producing its frameless, glass-free solar roofing products at Porcelette, in northeastern France.