US solar residential installer Sunnova has received court approval for a US$90 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing agreement.
The financing agreement was made with a group of the company’s corporate bondholders and will support its operations during the Chapter 11 sale process. The court has granted access to US$15 million of the US$90 million.
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According to Sunnova, this DIP financing will enable the company to continue its core operations, including monitoring, managing and servicing customers’ systems.
Paul Mathews, CEO of Sunnova, said: “With this additional capital in place, we are positioned to maintain uninterrupted service to our customers, fulfil our obligations to employees by paying wages and benefits, and continue operating our core business throughout the sale process.
The DIP financing agreement comes days after the company filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code for the Southern District of Texas.
This was only days after the company laid off more than half (55%) of its staff and one of its subsidiaries in Delaware, Sunnova TEP Developer, filed for voluntary relief under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Disclosed in an 8-K filing earlier this month, the company announced that the layoffs would affect nearly 718 employees, effective 30 May 2025. Among the employees whose contract was terminated was former interim chief financial officer, Robyn Liska, who had been appointed in the role at the beginning of April.
Moreover, Sunnova also received court approval for an agreement with ATLAS SP Partners, for which Sunnova will receive US$11 million. A third financing agreement approved by the court has been signed with home construction company Lennar Homes, which will acquire assets related to Sunnova’s New Homes business for nearly US$16 million.
Sunnova is one of the latest companies in the residential solar sector to have filed for voluntary relief under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and joins residential fintech company Solar Mosaic, which filed for relief last week; and residential solar installers Lumio and SunPower, which filed in September and August 2024, respectively. Elsewhere, another residential solar installer, Titan Solar Power, abruptly ceased operations in June 2024.
Some of the assets from SunPower – including the Blue Raven Solar business, New Homes business and the non-installing Dealer network – were acquired by residential solar company Complete Solaria soon after SunPower’s Chapter 11 filing, with the name more recently being revived as the company aims to change the Complete Solaria name to SunPower.
