Sunnova, which claims it no longer needs most of the $3 billion loan, defaulted on interest payments to bondholders this spring and warned there was ‘substantial doubt’ it would stay in business
The Department of Energy cut a Biden administration loan guarantee to Sunnova Energy, a politically connected solar panel company, from $3 billion to $371 million, financial disclosure records show.
Sunnova, which has fended off bankruptcy since March, said it reached a deal with the Trump administration to cancel the unspent balance of the loan guarantee because it is unable to use the rest of the money, according to a Thursday Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company said it has already spent $371 million of the $3 billion loan guarantee, which is still covered by the lending agreement.
Sunnova declined to comment but directed the Washington Free Beacon to its SEC filings, which said the company no longer needs the remaining portion of the loan guarantee “due to a shift in customer demand from solar loans to leases and power purchase agreements.” The company has shifted its business model to leases over purchases, citing dwindling consumer interest in owning solar panels outright. The DOE did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite Sunnova’s assertion that the remaining loan balance is unnecessary, the deal underscores Sunnova’s financial struggles. The company defaulted on interest payments to bondholders this spring and warned there was “substantial doubt” it would stay in business.
The Sunnova deal is one example of a list of companies to which the Biden administration lent that now face financial troubles. One is Li-Cycle, approved for a $375 million loan late last year. Its owners are now attempting to sell off the company in an effort to avoid bankruptcy. Another, Plug Power, received a $1.6 billion loan. It announced layoffs of over 200 employees in March.
Republican lawmakers have criticized the Sunnova deal—the largest such agreement between the government and an American solar company—since it was approved, citing the company’s history of consumer complaints and its board’s connections to President Biden’s loan czar Jigar Shah.
Sunnova has been accused of scamming elderly dementia patients into signing long-term solar panel leases, according to interviews and state consumer complaint records obtained by the Free Beacon in 2023.
“It was truly ripping off old people,” said one Texas woman, who told the Free Beacon that a door-to-door salesman talked her senile father into signing a $34,000 contract with Sunnova shortly before he died. “It was the biggest ripoff I’ve ever seen.”
The company’s board also had ties to the Biden administration and the Democratic Party, the Free Beacon reported. Sunnova board director Anne Slaughter Andrew, wife of former Democratic National Committee chairman Joseph Andrew, served on the board of a nonprofit “green energy” group that former DOE loan office head Jigar Shah founded.
One of Sunnova’s largest shareholders is Newlight Partners, which owns 5 percent of the company, according to SEC records. Newlight Partners is a spinout of Soros Fund Management, Democratic megadonor George Soros’s company. Sunnova has also received major financial backing from Quantum Strategic Partners, which Soros’s fund manages.
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