Sunnova’s Enronish Ending – Watts Up With That?

from MasterResource

By Robert Bradley Jr. — July 16, 2025

“’The [Sunnova] summit [last November] was really part of the swindle,’ said Chris Pélissié, chief executive at Senga Solar, which is owed more than $680,000 by Sunnova. ‘None of us dealers knew we were playing chess until it was just too late’…” (below)

Previous posts at MasterResource (below) have chronicled the government-enabled rooftop solar industry, which is now in distress. Bankrupt Sunnova Energy heads the list, with others either bankrupt or struggling.

In the Wall Street Journal article last week, “Sunnova Pushed Sales as Woes Mounted” (July 3, 2025), Alicia McElhaney wrote:

Each year, hundreds of dealers for solar-panel company Sunnova Energy International gather for a summit to celebrate a year’s hard work. But this February, they came to the glitzy Town & Country resort in San Diego looking for answers.

Enron was all glitz. The game was imaging–creating a non-financial reality where political cronies (“pull peddlers,” as Ayn Rand described them in Atlas Shrugged) ruled. “It is of such pennies and smiles that the destruction of your country is made,” bringing to mind the toothy white smile of Sunnova founder and now ex-CEO John Berger.  

But the reality was dire, so (Enron-ex) John Berger spun a tale.

Sunnova was months behind on its payments to dealers, who sell and install its home solar-energy systems and depend on timely reimbursements from the company to recoup upfront costs. Sunnova’s stock was tumbling, and its liquidity had worsened. But on that early February day in San Diego, Sunnova’s then-chief executive assured dealers they would get repaid as long as the dealers kept installing solar projects.

Dealers didn’t know the severity of the company’s financial problems at the time, or that it was already working with bankers to manage its debt burden and fix its rapidly eroding liquidity, several dealers told The Wall Street Journal.

Reality bats last.

Weeks after the gathering, Sunnova warned that it may not be able to operate as a going concern. By June, the company had filed for chapter 11, leaving its 175 dealers collectively owed around $347 million.

“The summit was really part of the swindle,” said Chris Pélissié, chief executive at Senga Solar, which is owed more than $680,000 by Sunnova. Dealers are facing payment challenges beyond Sunnova, with some also waiting to be paid by SunPower and Lumio, both of which filed for bankruptcy in 2024 amid a downturn in the renewables industry….

Berger gave his side of the story:

In bankruptcy court filings, Sunnova said it aims to settle dealer claims to ensure completion of 22,000 ongoing solar projects…. John Berger, Sunnova’s former CEO, separately told the Journal that he explained to dealers at the summit the company retained long-term cash flows for a rainy day. Berger said he told dealers that what Sunnova was facing was more like a hurricane than a rainy day, and that the company planned to use the cash to stabilize the company.

“I understand the frustration, but I consistently engaged with dealers openly and truthfully, even when the
news was difficult,” Berger said.

What was the reserve fund? The $2.92 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (Project Hestia)? Enron thought it had a billion dollar reserve from accounts receivables from California utilities in the aftermath of the power crisis in that state. It was only a paper asset that byzantine regulation gave and the legal system and politics took away.

Turns out Sunnova would get a $185 million loan from asset KKR in March (good money after bad)? But that money, little doubt, is long gone, feeding into the high-cost structure of an extravagant company (a la Enron).

“Sunnova didn’t respond to these allegations,” the article continues.

Sunnova stopped paying its dealers last November, and some of them stopped routing solar installation financing requests through the company. Val Berechet, co-founder and CEO at Sunsolar, said he is owed some $800,000, but that it could have been worse if he continued to sell his customers Sunnova products.

Berger was fired. He cashed in over the years, making him a rare winner amid thousands of losers. He has a lot of explaining to do. No more sermonizing about “clean” energy (solar is not ecologically blessed) and climate benefits (there are none from Sunnova or the U.S. solar industry on close inspection).

Sunnova wants to blame others for its bubble business model enabled by special government favor (graft, in retrospect). The article ends:

Around the end of March, Sunnova said in a letter to dealers reviewed by the Journal that it “will pursue all available legal remedies to seek damages for lost business and profits resulting from any intentional violation” of its policy that dealers can’t transfer their solar projects to another company after installation. “None of us dealers knew we were playing chess until it was just too late,” Senga’s Pélissié said.

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